


Breathing in the Same Light

by amberdowny



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, M/M, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Pining Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 00:02:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3588849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amberdowny/pseuds/amberdowny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis Tomlinson has made a great start on his first year of uni. He gets on really well with his three flat mates, who've just become his mates. The lessons themselves aren't bad. And even though he's not sure when they started dating (no one told him about it) he likes his girlfriend Eleanor well enough.</p>
<p>Then he gets an accidental @reply from this @Harry_Styles kid. Which would be no big deal, except it keeps happening. Soon Louis has struck up a friendship with Harry, but can a relationship online ever really be real?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathing in the Same Light

**Author's Note:**

> Omg, my posting date is finally here! I gotta admit, there were a few days (or a lot of days) when I didn't think I was going to get this finished. I owe it actually happening to my wonderful girlfriend/beta/cheerleader [Nikki](http://archiveofourown.org/users/aflowerchildsdreams/pseuds/aflowerchildsdreams). Also thanks to the mods for running this challenge, and letting me have an extension for my draft.  
> The lovely graphic below was made by [Joe](allyoursnocontrol.tumblr.com), who let me be way late and didn't give up on me.  
> This isn't Britpicked except by my spellcheck in UK mode, so any mistakes are mine and entirely correctable!

 

Louis swears over the headset because seriously? He's an awesome footie player in real life, why can't he coordinate his thumbs to make his virtual players just as awesome as he is? The trouble is, football just isn't meant to be played with your hands, Louis decides, and he says as much to his best friend.

Stan laughs. "You're just mad because I'm winning," he says.

"Oh, piss off." Louis isn't mad. And Stan isn't winning. He temporarily has a higher score, that's all. An easily rectified and entirely changeable situation, for sure. Probably. 

Or not, as it turns out. 

"Ha! I totally pulverized you, Tommo!" 

Louis pouts, though Stan can't see it. "Well, whatever. Next time I see you, we're playing for real, and you won't stand a chance."

"Okay," Stan says agreeably. "Christmas hols then, you and me. It's on. And stop pouting, Lou, you sore loser."

Louis is about to retort when his mobile vibrates in his pocket. He pulls it out and sees that he has a Twitter notification. He tosses his mobile onto the cushion beside him, making a mental note to check it later. "'M not a sore loser," he says. "And I challenge you to a rematch."

"I'll have to take you up on that another time," Stan says apologetically. "I've got to head out here in a few. I've got the late shift tonight."

"All right," Louis says. "Have fun. Be safe."

"Always."

Louis powers down the system, removes his headset, and stands up and stretches. He's alone in the flat for now, Liam and Niall still in class and Zayn at some kind of poetry reading thing for one of his courses. But they should be back soon, and it's Wednesday. Louis doesn't even remember how the tradition started, but nearly three months into term, they've never missed a Wednesday night pizza and Netflix hangout, just the four of them.

Normally Niall gets back from his last class around four-thirty, and Liam somewhere between then and five. Louis and Zayn have usually gotten the pizza ordered so it arrives just after Liam, and have already decided between them what film or show to gang up together and convince Niall and Liam to watch, but Louis is a little thrown off by Zayn still being gone. It's not like he's entirely co-dependent or anything, but he and Zayn both get out of class in the early afternoon and typically hang out after. Come to think of it, Louis doesn't even remember what time Zayn said he'd be home, so he doesn't know whether to place their usual pizza order or not, or if he should wait awhile--because there's nothing wrong with cold pizza, but there just isn't likely to be any left once Niall gets hold of it. 

Louis flops back down onto the sofa and picks up his mobile again to text Zayn.

_what time are u getting back ?_

While Louis waits for Zayn to text him back, he remembers the Twitter notification and thumbs over to the app. He expects to see an @ reply from Niall or Liam, bored in class, or maybe his sort-of girlfriend, Eleanor. But what he sees instead makes him furrow his brow.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** @louist: Help. Hair emergency.

Confused to no end, Louis sends out a tweet of his own.

**_@louist:_** @Harry_Styles: Hi ? Also, what ?

He has no idea who Harry Styles is, or why he'd be asking him about his hair. Sometimes Louis needs Zayn to help him do his quiff, for god's sake. He's definitely one of the last people he'd ask for hair advice. And speaking of Zayn...

Louis' mobile vibrates with a response from him, and he puts the odd tweet out of his mind.

_this should finish at 5. be home 5:30 x_ And then, almost immediately afterward, _I vote for Dark Knight._

Louis shakes his head fondly, because of course Zayn voted for _The Dark Knight_. Liam will probably agree, and once those two have their minds set on some superhero movie, nothing he or Niall ever say can convince them to pick something else. 

Almost on cue, Niall walks though the door and immediately makes a bee line for the refrigerator. "Hi," he calls over his shoulder, rummaging through the half-empty takeaway containers. "Do you think this curry is still good?"

Louis wrinkles his nose. "Ew. Definitely not; that's from at least two weeks ago. Chuck it out. Besides, I'm going to order pizza in just a few minutes."

Niall pops up from his crouch behind the refrigerator door, the offending curry in his hand. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asks, as he tosses the container in the direction of the rubbish bin. Louis winces, but it drops in neatly, the container not even opening up at the impact.

"Well--don't spoil your appetite," Louis says lamely.

"Okay, _Mum_." Niall laughs.

Louis shrugs. He's spent a lot of time looking after his sisters, that sort of thing comes nearly second-nature to him by now. "Zayn's going to be late," he says. "By the way. He's already put in a vote for _The Dark Knight_."

It's Niall's turn to shrug, an egg roll halfway to his mouth. "'S been awhile since I've seen that one, should be good. When is Zayn going to be here?"

"Half five, he said. I thought I'd order the pizza when Liam gets home. The usual okay?"

Niall considers. "Yeah, no point messing with something that works." He shoves the rest of the egg roll in his mouth, and then joins Louis on the sofa. "D’you want to play a quick round of FIFA while we wait for the others?" he asks after swallowing.

"Nah," Louis says, pride still wounded from his game with Stan. "You go on ahead if you want though; I’ll watch."

"Nah," Niall echoes, "It’s no fun by yourself." He jumps, then reaches in his pocket for his mobile. He looks at it for a moment, then holds it out to Louis. "Do you know this girl?"

Louis glances over, then double-takes before looking resolutely away. "Um. No, but I think I saw you dancing together on Saturday night at the club. She had more clothes on, then. Did you end up going home with her?"

Niall shakes his head. "I don’t think so; I woke up in Josh’s bed on Sunday morning."

Louis snickers. "So you went home with _him_?"

Niall shrugs easily. "I suppose, except he was on the sofa with some bird when I left, so. I have no idea why this girl is sending me--oh," he says, as his mobile vibrates again. "There we go. She just sent me a text--that was a mistake, she’s sorry, please delete those pictures." Niall sighs dramatically. "I don’t know if I can. I might want to keep them."

Louis nods. "I’d want to. I’d really, really want to. But since she asked nicely…"

"You’re a good man."

"I know, I know. And so are you."

"Yeah," Niall agrees mournfully, thumbing over a few buttons on his mobile. "There. Gone."

Louis pats Niall on the shoulder. "You’ll survive. You’ll be okay. You’ll find another girl to send you naked pictures."

Niall brightens. "Yeah, I will. Maybe I’ll even send a few of my own."

"There’s the spirit."

There’s the sound of a key in the lock then, and they both look up as Liam enters the flat. "Hey," he greets them. "Zayn’s not back yet?"

"Nope," Niall replies, popping the p. "Louis says he said about half five. But now that you’re here we can order the pizza and pick the movie."

"We can’t pick the movie!" Liam says indignantly. "Zayn needs to get a say."

"Zayn already voted for _The Dark Knight_ ," Louis says. 

"Oh." Liam nods. "Okay then. Let me go put my stuff away." He gestures to the bag slung over his shoulder, then leaves the room.

Louis figures he might as well put in their pizza order while Liam’s gone, so he fishes his mobile out from where it’s fallen between the cushions of the sofa and calls in their usual order. He frowns slightly when he sees another Twitter notification, and is on the verge of opening Twitter when Liam reappears.

"Okay! So, _The Dark Knight_? I wouldn’t mind watching that one again."

"Guess we’re decided then. I’ll go get it queued up," Niall says.

Louis heaves a long-suffering sigh. "No one even bothered to ask me."

"It doesn’t matter; three against one, you’re overruled," Niall responds. "Also, shut up, who doesn’t like Batman?"

"Oh!" Liam points at Niall. "That reminds me. Have either of you seen my Batman shirt?"

Niall shakes his head, and Louis says, "Nope, haven’t seen it. Although I don’t know about either of you, but my laundry pile is getting out of hand, maybe it's just dirty somewhere."

"I do my laundry regularly, thank you," Liam protests, but Niall nods in understanding. 

"It’s okay, Li, you can tell us how tall your laundry pile is. We won’t judge you," he says, ruffling Liam’s recently cut hair as he passes.

Liam shakes his head. "But it’s not tall at all!" he says, sounding so distressed that Louis can’t help but laugh. 

"Maybe Zayn knows," Louis says, taking pity on him. "He should be back any minute now."

Liam relaxes, then starts bantering with Niall about the merits of Batman versus Superman, and Louis takes the opportunity to check Twitter. He likes superheroes well enough, but it’s really Liam and Zayn’s thing, and Niall just likes to rile Liam. Truth be told, Louis enjoys it too. Liam is just too easy to wind up.

When Louis opens Twitter, he finds another reply from @Harry_Styles. 

**_@Harry_Styles:_** @louist: Oops! Sorry! My friend @louiset is a hairdresser.

Well, that explains that, Louis thinks to himself. He debates just leaving their exchange at that, but in the end, he tweets one last time.

**_@louist:_** @Harry_Styles: no worries : )

There's a dull thud at the door then, sounding more like someone had kicked it than actually knocked. Nonplussed, Louis looks up from his mobile to see both Niall and Liam looking equally as puzzled. Liam makes an aborted motion to go to the door. "Should I open it? We didn't miss the pizza being delivered did we?"

"I forgot to keep a look out," Niall admits, "But they wouldn't be able to get into the building, and anyway, they'd proper knock, wouldn't they."

And then Zayn's voice is shouting at them from outside, accompanied by more kicks to the door. "Open the door, or I swear I will drop all of these pizzas!" Niall practically leaps across the room to open the door, revealing Zayn juggling three pizzas, his school bag, and his art portfolio case, his keys uselessly balanced on the topmost pizza box. "I see that got your attention," he grumbles, staggering to the counter and tipping the pizzas onto it. "Also, Louis, you owe me for the pizzas, it was your turn to pay," he adds, before disappearing into the hallway.

"How did you even end up with them?" Niall asks, already working on laying out the boxes and lifting the lids to inspect the pizzas.

"I met the delivery boy outside and he recognized me," Zayn calls from his room. "I figured one of you was already on your way down, but no, of course not, as if I didn't already have enough to carry up two flights of stairs." He reappears in the doorway, sans shoes and jacket, revealing the Batman t-shirt he had been wearing underneath. Liam, engrossed in selecting pizza slices with Niall, doesn't notice.

"I found your shirt, Liam," Louis announces.

Liam whips around, then stares accusingly at Zayn. "You took my shirt?"

Zayn looks down at the yellow logo across his chest. "Er. I haven't done laundry in a little while. I didn't think you'd mind?"

Liam huffs out an annoyed breath. "All three of you are doing laundry as soon as the movie is over, this is ridiculous." As an afterthought, he adds, "And I wouldn't have minded _if you had asked_."

Zayn crosses to the refrigerator and pulls out a couple beers, offering one to Liam with an apologetic face. Liam accepts it with a long-suffering sigh, then heads to the sofa with his plate, Niall on his heels.

Zayn and Louis grab their own plates, and settle in with the others to watch the film.

-

Louis has all but forgotten the wayward tweets when his mobile vibrates in his pocket during an especially boring lecture two weeks later. It's a large course, and he's sat near the back, so Louis takes out his mobile and checks it under the desk.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** thanks for a great dinner last night @louist

Louis shakes his head. He’s been thinking of changing his Twitter name anyway, if this Harry guy is going to keep tweeting him by mistake, maybe he ought to do it.

**_@louist:_** @Harry_Styles: Funny, I don’t remember having any dinner guests

Louis tries to pay attention to the lecture after that, there’s only another quarter of an hour, but it isn’t exactly riveting. It’s all he has on Wednesdays, though, so he tries not to skip it too often, especially since it’s required for his degree. His mind wanders to his evening plans. He has an essay due the next morning, so he’s hoping he can finish it this afternoon and not have to work though movie night with the boys. He had to do that the week before, and none of them had let him work in peace.

Louis suddenly realises everyone around him is packing up their things and standing to leave, and he quickly follows suit, shrugging into his coat and trying to look as though he knew all along the lecture was over. He files out the door with everyone else, pushes through the crowd milling around in the hallway, and makes his way outside.

He finds Zayn leaning against the wall waiting for him, looking like a classic bad boy with his leather jacket, quiff, and smouldering eyes. Completing the picture is the cigarette he’s holding in his mouth as he fumbles in his pocket for his lighter.

Fag lit, Zayn looks up and catches Louis’ eyes. "Hey," he says on an exhale, smoke issuing from between his lips. "How was the lecture?"

"Awful," Louis replies. "As usual. How was your art class?"

Zayn shoots him a grin. "Brilliant." He picks up the art portfolio case leaning against the wall beside him. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah--oh, hang on," Louis pauses as his mobile vibrates in his pocket. He pulls it out and checks the Twitter notification he finds. 

**_@Harry_Styles:_** @louist: We have to stop meeting like this. Sorry again.

Just like the first time, Louis could leave it at that. But just like the first time, he decides to reply once more.

**_@louist:_** @Harry_Styles: It’s ok : )

"Okay, let’s go," Louis says to Zayn, pocketing his mobile again and turning towards their building. Zayn falls into step beside him, bumping their shoulders every so often. 

"What are your plans for this lovely afternoon?" Zayn asks, pausing to crush his cigarette out under his heel when they’re about halfway back to their flat.

Louis shrugs as they continue on. "I have an essay due tomorrow. I was going to work on that."

"That sounds fun," Zayn says, sticking out his tongue.

"Doesn’t it?" Louis sighs. "But I want to finish before Liam and Niall get back. I don’t know how anyone gets anything done in our flat."

Zayn snorts. "Why do you think I go to the library so much?"

"It’s definitely not because you have a crush on the girl at the front desk," Louis teases.

Zayn punches Louis’ shoulder. "Shut up, I do not have a crush on Perrie, she’s just--"

"Ooh, _Perrie_."

"She’s in some of my classes. We talk about books. That’s all." Louis is still grinning suggestively. "How’s Eleanor?" Zayn finally snaps.

Immediately, the smile drops from Louis’ face, and he groans. "Did I tell you yesterday that she was actually disappointed I didn’t remember it was our one month anniversary? I didn’t even know we were officially dating! I thought we were keeping it casual."

"Girls, mate," Zayn says, shaking his head. "They’re lovely, but I will never understand how they think."

"Tell me about it," Louis replies, as they approach their building. He pulls out his keys to let them in, then continues as they start to climb the stairs to their floor, "Guys are so much easier, I’ve never had this trouble when I was seeing a bloke. And it’s like, she’s okay, she’s nice and cute, but I’m just not totally sure, y’know?"

Zayn glances over at him. "You probably need more to base a relationship on than ‘nice and cute,’ Lou."

Louis sighs. "But I do like her, I don’t want to hurt her by saying I’m not that into it."

Zayn shrugs as they reach their floor and head down the hall. "I don’t know what to tell you."

Louis offers a weak grin. "Well, thanks for listening, at any rate." He unlocks their door and lets Zayn enter before him. "Now, I’m going to go lock myself in my room and finish that essay. Hopefully I’ll be done by the time Niall gets home, else he won’t let me get anything done all night." Zayn laughs, doesn’t disagree, and heads into the hallway. He opens his door and drops his art portfolio case inside as Louis slips past him to get to his own room, closing the door behind him.

Louis sits in his desk chair, sets his bag on the floor beside him, and rifles through it to get out the book he needs. Then he opens his laptop, brings up his partly-finished essay, and sighs as he flips to the first marked page in his book and gets to work.

-

Two hours later, Louis is just hitting save on his completed essay when the door to his room bangs open, and Niall bursts inside. "Are you done yet?" he demands. "Because Liam is back and the pizza should be here any min--"

"Niall!" Liam’s voice calls. "It’s your turn to get the pizza and they just pulled up outside the building, what are you doing?" Niall zips back out of Louis’ room, and a moment later Louis hears the slam of the door to the flat that means Niall has gone down to meet the pizza man. Still a bit shell-shocked from the whirlwind that is Niall, Louis closes his laptop and heads out into the common area.

Zayn smirks when Louis exits the hallway and crosses to the sofa and sits beside him. "How much do you have left to do?" he asks, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Actually, I just finished," Louis says. 

"Good," Liam says, fiddling with his laptop and getting the film ready. "Because we’re going to watch _Insidious_."

Louis gives Liam a doubtful look. "Really?"

Liam nods. "Yeah, it supposed to be really good."

"You mean really scary," Louis counters.

Liam shrugs. "Yeah, so?"

Louis just shakes his head, trying to hide his grin. He’s sure Liam will be too scared to sleep tonight; he doesn’t even like those shows about supposedly haunted places. 

There’s a fumbling at the front door, before it opens and Niall comes into view, one leg raised to balance the pizzas on his knee as he struggles to pull his key out of the lock. "Fucking hell, a little help over here?" he says, agitated. Liam goes over and removes the pizzas to the counter, and Niall is able to free his key. "Thanks a lot, guys," Niall says, shooting Zayn and Louis dirty looks as they get to their feet.

"No problem," Louis says cheekily, accepting the plate Liam hands him. 

Liam passes plates to the other lads as well, and they grab slices of pizza and beers and arrange themselves on the sofa. It’s not really meant for four, and there is a love seat against the adjacent wall, but the laptop screen is small, and it’s easier for all of them to see if they just pile in one place. It takes a bit of extra coordination to balance food and drinks on their laps in such tight quarters, but they’re pros by now.

As the plot progresses, Louis has to admit he’s glad they’re all pressed together. He’s on the end of the sofa, next to Zayn, and both he and Liam are practically in Zayn’s lap. Liam and Niall seem to be holding hands, and if Niall is squeezing Liam’s hand as tightly as he’s squeezing the bottle of beer in his other hand, Louis is glad he’s not seated next to Niall.

The four of them draw unconsciously closer together as the film reaches a tense moment, the music reaching a suspenseful crescendo, and then--

Louis’ mobile rings.

Later, they’ll all deny it, but they scream loudly before they realize what it is, and Louis disentangles himself from Zayn and Liam to pull his mobile out of his pocket. 

Eleanor’s name is flashing on his screen. Louis stands up and moves into the kitchen so he won’t bother the others as much before he answers.

"Hey," he says.

"Hi babe," Eleanor replies. "What are you doing?"

"Just watching a film with the lads."

"Do you want to come over and watch one with me instead?"

Louis glances over at the sofa as Eleanor goes on about what film they can watch. Niall has finished his beer, the empty bottle lying abandoned by his feet, and he’s proper cuddling Liam now, his arm wrapped around him so he can squeeze Zayn’s hand in a death grip instead. Liam is hiding his face in Zayn’s shoulder as a particularly scary scene plays on the laptop. Zayn looks up and sees Louis watching, and he reaches out with his free hand in invitation.

Louis holds up one finger in the ‘just a minute’ gesture, then says into the mobile, "El, that sounds great, but this is like a planned thing--"

"So you’d rather spend time with your friends and not your girlfriend?" Louis can practically hear her pout. "You already missed our anniversary."

Exasperated, Louis replies, "I told you, I didn’t realize--"

"I know," she interrupts him. "So in the future when people ask when we got together, we’ll just say we made it official yesterday, but that we were really together awhile before that. Either way, I haven’t seen you in ages."

"We had lunch together yesterday," Louis protests, ignoring the strange feeling he gets thinking about the future with Eleanor.

"Alone, I mean," Eleanor amends. "So what time do you think you’ll be here?"

"I--"

"Please, Louis?" And now she sounds near tears. 

Louis sighs. "Um, give me twenty minutes or so."

"Great! See you soon."

"Yeah," Louis agrees, not as enthusiastically. He ends the call, then walks back to the sofa and clears his throat, not sure how to tell them that he’s bailing on them--the first time any of them have done so.

Niall leans forward and pauses the film, then looks up at Louis. "Whatever happened to bros before hos?" But he doesn’t look angry, and Louis relaxes.

"Sorry," he apologizes. "But Eleanor seemed kind of upset. We, uh, I guess we’re dating, so--"

"You guess?" Liam repeats.

"We are dating," Louis corrects. "I just didn’t exactly--well, she thought we’ve been dating for a month, but I didn’t--I guess we ‘made it official’ yesterday. So she asked me to come over--and I don’t know, I don’t want to hurt her feelings any more than I already have."

Zayn doesn’t say anything, but the look he’s giving Louis is considering and more knowing than Louis is entirely comfortable with.

"So I guess I’ll see you lads later," Louis finishes. 

"Have fun," Zayn says finally. "But you’re buying the pizza next week since you’re abandoning us. And from now on, Wednesdays are our days, no exceptions." Liam and Niall nod in agreement.

"Fair enough," Louis says. He heads to his room to grab his jacket and keys, and when he comes out, the others have resumed the film. They’re all sitting closer together than they were a few moments ago, and Louis is pretty sure he sees Liam grab Niall’s hand again as he closes the door to the flat behind him and dramatic music plays on the laptop.

Eleanor’s building isn’t far from his own, and she must be watching for him, because she comes out to let him in before he even has to text her that he’s arrived. Her flat is on the ground floor, and Louis takes a moment to appreciate not having to climb any stairs.

When they get to her flat, Louis waves awkwardly to two of Eleanor’s flat mates who are eating dinner in the kitchen, then follows Eleanor to her room. She closes the door behind her, then takes off her long wool coat and boots. Louis sees that she’s already dressed for bed in pink shorts and a t-shirt.

"What do you want to watch?" she asks, as Louis shrugs out of his jacket and toes off his Vans, feeling oddly overdressed even though he’s only wearing jeans and a striped shirt.

Louis shrugs. "I’m not bothered, really, whatever you want is fine."

Eleanor turns to her laptop and clicks to Netflix, scrolling through the titles as she decides. Louis sits on the bed and looks around her room as she does. Although they’ve been hanging out for a few weeks, this is the first time Louis has seen her bedroom. They usually meet up on campus or at clubs nearby. He picked her up once and saw her kitchen, and she’s never been to his flat.

The room is tidy and looks like a brochure for residential life. There are fairy lights strung from the ceiling and photo collages on the walls of Eleanor and her friends. The area rug covering the dingy lino is the same shade of green as the patterned bedspread.

Eleanor turns out the lights and then sits beside him as the opening credits to a chick flick play on her laptop. She takes his hand and lays her head on his shoulder, sighing. "This is nice," she says. "We should do this more often."

"Yeah," Louis agrees half-heartedly. It’s not that he doesn’t want to do things with Eleanor, but he feels bad for ditching his friends and he’s still not entirely sure how he ended up with a girlfriend in the first place. He squeezes her hand though, then wraps his arm around her and tries to be interested in the film she picked out.

Louis isn’t sure whether he’s relieved or not when, twenty minutes later, Eleanor kisses him in a way that makes it clear she isn’t interested in the film any more than he is. 

\- 

Louis opens the door to his flat slowly, then turns and closes it behind him carefully, so it only makes a tiny clicking sound when it latches. Satisfied, Louis turns back around and starts to head towards his room, but--

"Good morning, Louis," Liam says cheerfully from the kitchen. He’s leaning against the counter, an open water bottle in his hand. He’s covered in a thin sheen of sweat, apparently just back from the gym or something. Louis didn’t even know Liam went to the gym. Liam raises the water bottle and takes a swig, and Louis’ eyes follow the motion of his throat as he swallows. There’s sweat pooling in the hollow of his throat.

"Er. Good morning," Louis replies finally, a little guiltily, eyes back on Liam’s face. It’s not his fault he has to share a flat with such fit lads. "What are you doing up so early?"

Liam laughs. "I go for a run every morning; I’m always up this early. Which you’d know if you ever dragged yourself out of bed before noon."

"I don’t sleep until noon," Louis protests. "Every day," he adds, at Liam’s disbelieving look.

"Right. So what are _you_ doing up this early? And aren’t those last night’s clothes?" Liam’s eyes are sparkling. He’s clearly enjoying this. Louis doesn’t blame him; it’s not often that Liam gets to take the mickey out of him rather than the other way round.

Louis sighs. "Okay, yes, I’m walk of shaming. Do you want details?"

Liam shakes his head, making a faintly disgusted face. "No thanks. I’d rather not think about that."

"Good, because a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell," Louis retorts.

"You can’t be talking about yourself." Louis flips Liam a two-fingered salute as he heads to his room, followed by Liam’s laughter.

Louis throws himself across his bed. He’s not ashamed of sleeping with Eleanor, he just didn’t want to deal with being teased about it this early in the morning. It’s not like he could have hidden it from the other boys anyway; he’s sure they noticed he didn’t come home last night. 

Footsteps sound in the hall, and then a door closes gently. Next door, Niall starts stirring. It’s weird being awake so early. Liam was exaggerating, actually describing Zayn more than Louis, but it’s true that he’s not usually up at this hour. Louis checks his mobile for the time. It’s only eight. There’s still another hour before he’d normally even be awake; he has plenty of time to take a shower and get dressed before he has to leave for class. 

A door opens, and there are more footsteps in the hall, before another door opens and closes. Louis rearranges himself on his bed so his head is actually on the pillow and closes his eyes even though he knows he won’t be able to fall back asleep now that he’s been awake, especially with the others starting their morning routines. A door opens again, and two sets of footsteps sound in the hall this time. One stops outside Louis’ partially open door, while the other continues to the loo. Louis keeps his eyes shut even as someone pushes open the door and comes inside. The shower turns on before Louis says, without opening his eyes, "Hi, Zayn."

Zayn lays beside him on the bed. "How’d you know it was me?" he asks, voice still rough from sleep.

"Liam was all sweaty, so I figured he was the one in the shower, and Niall would already have jumped on me without waiting for an invitation," Louis replies, finally opening his eyes and rolling to face the other boy. "Did Liam wake you up just to tell you I was home?"

Zayn nods, head propped on his hand. He still looks soft and sleepy. "We figured you’d just stayed at Eleanor’s, but we were still a little worried. And also scared because of the movie, but don’t tell anyone."

Louis laughs. "Who did Liam sleep with last night?"

"Me. And Niall started out with us too, but these beds barely fit two people, let alone three, so he decided to brave his own bed after an hour or so." Zayn surveys him seriously for a moment. "And speaking of sleeping with people…"

"I hope you and Liam didn’t sleep together the same way El and I did," Louis says. "I mean, it’s okay if you did, of course, that’d be kind of hot actually--"

"Louis," Zayn chides. "You know what I mean." 

Louis sighs, because he does. "Last night was okay. I don’t have much to compare it to, really. I mean, it’s not like I was a virgin or anything, but--" He shrugs. "It was fine."

"You can’t keep leading her on if you don’t really like her," Zayn says. "It’s not fair to either of you."

"It’s too early to think about it," Louis declares suddenly. "Stay if you want, but I don’t want to talk about this anymore."

Zayn sighs, but lays back on the pillow and closes his eyes. He’s asleep within minutes, since he has the strange ability to sleep whenever and wherever he wants. Louis stays lost in thought, despite what he told Zayn. Eleanor is a great girl. Louis doesn’t feel like they’re clicking right now, but he’s sure that will come with time. And Eleanor certainly doesn’t feel that way, based on the things she’s said and done. It must be all in Louis’ head, so there’s no reason to hurt her while he figures it out.

The shower cuts off, and Louis gets out of bed, throwing himself a little too enthusiastically into gathering the things he needs for his own shower.

-

Louis and Niall are sharing the kitchen table one Sunday, both doing coursework they’d put off for too long, when Louis gets the next reply from @Harry_Styles. They’ve agreed to take a fifteen minute break, and Louis gratefully closes his textbook on a stack of note cards he’s been working on all afternoon. Niall stretches, his spine popping unpleasantly, then stands up and heads to the fridge. Louis picks up his mobile from where it’s sat, on silent, in one of the unoccupied chairs and checks to see whether he’s gotten any messages or calls in the last couple hours. 

"Zayn says he’s getting dinner with some friends from his course," Louis reports, accepting the beer Niall hands him. "So we shouldn’t worry if he’s back late."

Niall makes a noise of assent as he pulls out his own mobile.

Louis returns his attention to his screen. He has a couple Twitter notifications, so he opens the app. The first one is from Eleanor, replying to the tweet he’d posted that morning about working all day with "I’ll miss u!!"

The second one is from @Harry_Styles, and it’s probably the strangest one so far.

_**@Harry_Styles:** @louist sat on my croissant._

Louis lets out a snort of laughter that has Niall glancing curiously up at him. Louis just shakes his head. "Don’t ask," he says. This is starting to get ridiculous. How hard is it to type in an ‘e’ anyway? Louis decides the time has come to change his username. 

A few moments later, Louis replies to the latest wayward tweet.

_**@Louis_Tomlinson:** @Harry_Styles: You are a filthy liar Harold ! _

"Oi! Study break over, Tommo," Niall says, swatting Louis with a notebook. 

Louis sighs, but sets his mobile back on the chair and opens his book to the page marked by the stack of note cards. He starts reading again, pen poised to take more notes to use in the paper he still has to write.

They’re still working an later when Liam comes in. "Evening, lads," he says. "I’m starving, have you eaten yet?" He sits in one of the empty chairs, but almost immediately raises his hips and reaches under his bum, pulling out Louis’ mobile and handing it to him. 

"No," Niall says, "we’ve been doing work all day. I could definitely eat. How about you, Lou?"

"Hm?" Louis says, looking up from Twitter. He’d only meant to check that Liam’s bony arse hadn’t done any damage to his mobile, but he hadn’t been able to resist checking when he saw the notification.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** HA! @Louis_Tomlinson and @louteasdale must be sick of me mixing them up.

"Food. Do you want any?" Niall repeats.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Louis agrees. "I think we’re probably done for tonight anyway."

Niall nods. "I think I worked harder today than I have all term, to be honest. And I think I’ve earned Nando’s."

"Nando’s sounds good to me," Liam agrees. "Lou?"

"I’m in." Louis glances down at his mobile again as another notification popping up catches his eye.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** @Louis_Tomlinson: I’m following you now. Also my name isn’t Harold.

"You’re not invited if you’re just going to be texting Eleanor the whole time," Niall says.

"I’m not texting Eleanor," Louis protests, thumbing over to Harry’s profile and tapping the ‘follow’ button.

"Well, whatever you’re doing, you can’t come with us if you’re going to be doing it," Liam says. "This is boy’s night."

"It is not, Zayn isn’t coming."

"You can’t just not invite Zayn," Liam protests. 

Niall shakes his head. "We’re not not-inviting him, he texted and said that he was getting dinner with some mates." 

Liam looks slightly put out, but he nods. "Ohh, okay. Well, let’s go then. Louis, leave your mobile here if you can’t stay off it."

"Yes, Daddy," Louis says, rolling his eyes. He stands up and stows his mobile in his pocket, grabs his wallet and jacket from his room, then follows the other two out of the flat.

It’s only about a fifteen minute walk to Nando’s, but it’s cold outside, and Louis zips his jacket all the way and tucks his chin into his collar. He shoves his hands as deep in his pockets as he can and wishes he'd thought to grab gloves. Liam, the bastard, clearly had the foresight Louis didn't and walks with his arms swinging at his side, fingers ensconced in red fleece.

"Stop that," Louis grumbles.

"Stop what?" Liam asks, bewildered.

"Having warm hands," Louis says petulantly.

Liam looks down at his hands, then at Louis, whose shoulders are hunched from how deep his hands are in his pockets. "Here," he says suddenly, pulling off one of his gloves. He immediately puts his bare left hand in his pocket and holds the glove out to Louis with the right. "We can share."

Now Louis just feels bad, and the puppy eyes Liam has turned on him don't help. "No, Li, that's okay. I'm just whinging, ignore me."

"Well, I'll take it then, it's fucking freezing," Niall says, grabbing the glove and pulling it on.

Louis hunches his shoulders, not entirely sure how he ended up freezing while Liam and Niall both seem quite content with their one glove apiece. "If Zayn was here, he'd share his gloves with me."

Niall snorts. "He would not, shut up, Louis."

Louis kicks at a balled up piece of paper on the sidewalk. "Well, he'd share a cigarette with me," he mumbles. "That'd be a little warmer."

"How do you figure?" Liam asks.

"It's literally on fire, it has to give off a little heat."

"Oi!" Niall suddenly says, grabbing hold of both Liam's and Louis' arms and half-dragging them behind a rubbish bin. "Speaking of Zayn, look at that." He points across the street, where, on the opposite sidewalk, Zayn is walking with a blonde girl. They aren't holding hands, but every so often, their hands brush, and Zayn glances at the girl bashfully every time.

"That must be Perrie," Louis says, craning his neck to continue watching the pair as they get further away.

"Perrie?" Liam questions. "The girl from the library? I thought he said was going out with mates from his course."

"She's in his course," Louis says as they resume walking, Zayn and Perrie out of sight. "So he wasn't lying."

"No," Niall agrees, "But when we get back, you can bet I'm gonna--"

"Leave him alone. This is exactly why he probably didn’t tell us. When he wants us to know, we will," Liam says.

"You ruin all our fun." Niall pouts for a moment, but perks up when the restaurant comes into view, though whether it’s because he's hungry or because he's cold Louis isn't sure. Maybe both.

A few minutes later, when they've reached the restaurant and are sat at a table near a window and have their food in front of them, Louis pulls out his mobile again, planning to investigate @Harry_Styles’s Twitter profile just to check that he isn't following some kind of weirdo.

"All right, enough, who are you texting if it's not Eleanor?" Liam demands.

Louis sighs. "This guy tweeted me by mistake a few times and he just started following me, that's all. I wanted to..."

"Twitter-stalk him to make sure he's not a psychopath?" Niall finishes. "Bit late considering you're using your full name on Twitter now."

Louis raises his eyebrows. "Oh, and _I'm_ the stalker? I only changed that this afternoon."

"So I might've gotten off track and gone onto Twitter a few times instead of working," Niall says. "The point is, if he's a creeper he can come find you now."

"Because Tomlinson is such an unusual name."

"Just be careful, yeah?" Liam says.

"Always," Louis says.

Liam nods. "Okay, so by all means, check this guy out. But then put your mobile away, for god’s sake."

Louis opens up @Harry_Styles's Twitter profile. It's full of mundane tweets about his days, random lines that Louis supposes are lyrics, replies mostly to the Lou that Louis had been mistaken for, and 'artsy' pictures of scenery and baked goods. His profile picture is of a cat. In short, @Harry_Styles is a typical, wholesome tweeter, and Louis tells the other boys so before tucking into his food.

When they’ve finished and are on their way back to their flat, Louis steals both of Liam’s gloves and then runs, laughing, as Niall gives chase. The whole thing evolves into a terrible excuse for a snow fight, given that there’s more dirty slush to be found than snow, culminating in Liam triumphantly drenching both Louis and Niall with a good jump in a puddle, and then the other two tackling him into said puddle. All three of them tumble into the flat, giggling and dripping on the carpet, much later than they should have done, given how close Nando’s is.

Zayn pokes his head out of his room and cocks an eyebrow. "I don’t even want to know."

"This is all your fault, Zayn," Niall declares. "If you hadn’t ditched us, Louis wouldn’t have had to steal Liam’s gloves."

"That makes no sense," Zayn says, stepping into the kitchen and leaning again the doorjamb, arms crossed. 

"Sure it does. We were very lonely without you, Zayn," Louis says. "In fact, we’re all so glad to see you. Aren’t we, lads?" Liam and Niall nod in agreement, playing along. "Group hug!" Louis announces, pouncing.

Zayn tries to escape, but Louis grabs him round the middle. They’re soon joined by Niall and Liam, all of them squeezing the struggling, albeit laughing, Zayn, getting him cold and wet in the process.

"Oops?" Louis offers when they all disentangle again, grinning at the large wet patch on the front of Zayn’s t-shirt.

Zayn rolls his eyes. "Wankers, the lot of you," he grumbles, as they all go to their separate rooms to change.

-

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** Heading home for Christmas, be glad to see my family and get away from it all for a bit !

Louis leans against the car door and looks out the window at the passing highway. He’s only fifteen minutes into the drive, there’s still about an hour left, and he’s already bored. He feels like he’s been bored since the night before, when the other lads had all left, and Louis had been stuck waiting until this afternoon when his mum could drive down to get him. And that was including the few hours he’d spent with Eleanor before she headed out, too. If he’s honest, she’s what he’s glad to be getting away from. He already knows he’s going to miss his friends the next few weeks while he’s home, and even though exams are coming up, the classes themselves aren’t too bad.

"The girls can’t wait to see you," his Mum says, pulling Louis from his thoughts. 

He grins. "I can’t wait to see them. "

"I saw Stan while I was at the shops yesterday," Jay continues. "He can’t wait to see you either."

"It’ll be good to catch up," Louis says. "I missed everybody." His mobile vibrates in his hand, and he looks down at it, opening Twitter when he sees the notification.

_**@Harry_Styles:** @Louis_Tomlinson: You’re running away?_

_**@Louis_Tomlinson:** @Harry_Styles: Sort of I guess_

_**@Harry_Styles:** @Louis_Tomlinson: What from?_

Louis hesitates. On the one hand, he barely knows this guy. On the other, they had been tweeting each other regularly the last couple weeks since they’d been following each other. And it’d be good to talk to someone who won’t be biased. He starts to type out a reply, then realizes that Eleanor follows him on Twitter, so he switches to a direct message instead.

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** My girlfriend mostly. Don't get me wrong, I like her well enough, but sometimes I just want space, you know ?

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** She follows me on Twitter, I hope you don’t mind that I DM’d you. And sorry if that was a more serious answer than you expected

Louis waits for a reply, simultaneously hoping he hasn’t scared @Harry_Styles off and wondering why he cares so much.

Jay glances over at him. "I hope you’re not planning to be on your mobile the whole time you’re home. I can still take it away if I have to."

"I know, Mum. I won’t be," Louis promises, looking away from the screen. He immediately looks back when it vibrates again, though. 

**_@Harry_Styles:_** Of course I don’t mind. How long have you been together?

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** It’s complicated. I didn’t think we were dating but she did ? So technically I guess about 2 months but it only feels like 1 month to me ???

**_@Harry_Styles:_** Sounds like you have some communication issues. That sucks for both of you. She probably just really likes you and doesn’t mean to be annoying.

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** Who’s side are you on ?!!

Realising that message could have come across as angry, Louis quickly sends off a winking face too, so Harry will know he’s joking. The message goes unanswered, and eventually Louis put his mobile in his pocket and actually engages in conversation with his Mum. He really has missed her.

As they pull into the drive a half hour later, the front door opens and two fair-haired girls run, squealing, towards the car. They stop and wait for the engine to shut off, and then they’re at Louis' door, practically opening it for him and attaching themselves to his legs as soon as he’s out of the car.

"Hi Louis!" the girl on his left leg says. "We missed you! All of us did, but me and Daisy missed you the most." She glances at her sister, who nods vigorously. 

"Really?" Louis says. The twins nod again. Laughing, Louis bends down and pulls both girls into a tight hug. "You little monkeys, you can’t fool me! I know that you," he squeezes the girl on his left a little harder, "are Daisy, and you," he squeezes the other, "are Phoebe. No matter how long I’m gone, I will always know. So no more tricks!"

Giggling, the girls wiggle out of Louis' hug, and then grab his hands to pull him to the house. Louis looks back helplessly at his Mum, standing beside the car, who just smiles and gets Louis' bags out of the backseat for him. When they reach the door, Phoebe lets go and runs ahead, calling, "Louis' home! Louis' home!"

Daisy leads Louis into the sitting room, where Lottie is lounging on the sofa, apparently absorbed in something on telly. She sits up when they come in, and accepts Louis' hug with minimal eye rolling, even hugging back after a moment. Inwardly, Louis grins. He knew Lottie wasn’t too cool for him. She’s probably been in here waiting for him, trying to act like that’s not what she’s doing. His suspicion is confirmed when she turns off the show right at what looks like, from the couple seconds Louis has seen, an important moment.

Phoebe comes into the room, followed by Fizzy, who flings her arms around him. "How long are you going to home, again, Lou?" she asks.

"A few weeks," Louis replies, sitting beside Lottie. Fizzy sits on his other side, but the twins rush out of the room, giggling. "Until after the New Year. Then I have to go back to school."

The twins reappear, carrying a Monopoly game. Fizzy grumbles, and Lottie flat-out refuses to play until Louis bribes her with the promise of being the Banker. To be honest, Louis isn’t too thrilled himself--Monopoly takes forever to play, and the youngest girls still struggle with the money counting enough that it’s even more tedious. 

The game keeps them occupied for the next hour, before Jay calls them for dinner. "Five more minutes!" Lottie begs.

Louis snickers. For someone who hadn’t even wanted to play, Lottie is definitely invested now, although it might be because she just purchased Park Lane on her last turn and got Mayfair early on, and both Fizzy and Daisy are dangerously close to the properties.

Jay is firm though, and a moment later, Lottie and Fizzy are setting the table while Daisy and Phoebe pack up the game and Louis helps his mum finish up cooking and brings the dishes to the table.

Dinner is a loud and chaotic affair. Lottie talks about a boy she likes, trying to get Louis' and her mum’s opinions on how to proceed. Meanwhile, Fizzy tries to explain a science project she’s working on with three other girls, one of whom she thinks doesn’t like her. And the twins get up from the table so many times to bring back this drawing or that new doll to show Louis that finally Jay announces, "The next person to leave this table before they’re done eating will not get any dessert."

This keeps the twins in their chairs, although they’re practically bouncing out of them with excitement. "Mummy made a cake this morning!" Daisy explains to Louis.

Phoebe nods furiously. "Yes, and we helped!"

"Phoebe cracked the eggs and didn’t get any shells in," Daisy says proudly.

"And Daisy mixed," Phoebe chimes in. "And we both licked the spoon."

"After you were done with the mixing, I hope," Lottie says, and Louis grins. It’s good to be home.

-

"So," Jay says later. Louis is helping her with the washing up. The youngest girls are in bed, and the older two have gone to their rooms for the night. They'd all watched a film together after dinner, and this is the first chance Louis and his mum have really had to talk all day, with neither of them focusing on something else at the same time.

"So?" Louis returns.

"What have you been doing? How's Eleanor?" Jay nudges him with a teasing smile.

Louis shrugs as best he can while up to his elbows in sudsy water. "Fine. I haven't seen her much lately, we've been busy."

"You should have invited her back here. I'd love to meet her."

"She has her own family stuff for Christmas," Louis says, although he actually has no idea what Eleanor is doing for Christmas. He really hasn't seen her much lately.

"You could still invite her for New Year's," Jay suggests.

Louis concentrates on the pan he's scrubbing for a moment longer than is strictly necessary, before he finally says, "I don't know if we're that serious yet, Mum. We haven't even been dating two months yet."

Jay plucks the pan out of his hands. "It's clean, Boo." She rinses it and then starts drying. "And your flatmates, how are they?"

"They’re great!" Louis says, with much more enthusiasm. "We think Zayn has a secret girlfriend he isn’t telling us about, though."

"Zayn…is he the blonde one we met over Skype?"

Louis shakes his head. "No, that was Niall. Zayn is the one who…oh hang on, I’ll show you." He lets the next pan he'd grabbed fall back into the water, then wipes his soapy hands on his thighs before pulling his mobile out of his pocket, where it's been on silent all afternoon. He ignores the funny jolt in his stomach when he sees the Twitter notification and opens his photos. "This is Zayn," Louis says when he finds a picture of him, turning the mobile so his mum can see it.

Zayn is making a face for the camera, eyes widened, eyebrows raised, tongue sticking out and a bit to the side. Louis grins a little to himself, because Zayn rarely poses for a picture like a normal person, he always has to stick his tongue out or cock one eyebrow or something. 

"Oh," his mum says, recognition in her voice. "He was the one who was already there when we arrived on the first day."

"Yes! He was. I’d forgotten about that." Louis flicks through his photos some more. He pauses on a picture Niall must have stolen his mobile to take of himself. "And here’s Niall, the one you asked about before," he says, showing her before turning the mobile back around to find one of Liam. "And this is Liam," he says triumphantly when he finds one, handing the mobile to Jay.

She looks down at it, a small frown creasing her forehead. "I can’t really see him, Lou," she says. He looks over her shoulder at the photo again.

It’s not exactly the greatest picture of Liam. He’s collapsed into Zayn on the sofa, eyes crinkled and mouth open wide in a laugh. His hair, still long and curly in the photo, is flopped over half his face. Louis suddenly realises that Liam is laughing so hysterically because this was the night he and Zayn had convinced Liam to smoke with them, and he rakes his eyes over the photo quickly, hoping there’s no spliff visible in Zayn’s or Liam’s hands. He breathes a quiet sigh of relief when he doesn’t see anything like that, but takes the mobile back hastily just in case. "Let me find a better one," he says. He scrolls through his pictures a bit more before finding one where Liam is looking at the camera and he can actually see his face, then gives it to his mum again.

"And how about Eleanor?" Jay asks, handing it back after she looks. "Can I see one of her?"

Louis nods. "Sure, Mum," he says. He scrolls through his pictures for a few more moments, before he gets to one of him and Stan that they took before he left for uni. Frowning, Louis goes back to the most recent ones and looks through again, before realizing he doesn’t actually have any pictures of Eleanor. He knows they’ve taken some together; they must all be on Eleanor’s mobile. Quickly, he opens Twitter, and, avoiding the direct message he sees he has for the moment, goes to Eleanor’s profile to show his mum her photo. 

Jay studies it for a moment, then says, "Well, she looks like a nice girl, at least."

"She is," Louis says quickly. He shoves his mobile in his pocket again with one last glance at his Twitter notification. "Anyway, erm, we’d better get the washing up done, yeah?"

"You actually want to do chores?" Jay asks. "Are you sick?"

Louis shrugs. "No, but I don’t want to be here washing at midnight, either…"

Jay swats him with the towel she’s still holding, but she laughs. "You’re right, come on, let’s get to work."

When they’re finished, Louis bids his mum goodnight and heads to his room. He lays on his bed and takes his mobile out, finally checking the Twitter notification he’s been neglecting. 

**_@Harry_Styles:_** I am Switzerland.

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** Fair enough. And you might be right

Harry replies almost immediately.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** I usually am ;)

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** cheeky !

While Louis waits for Harry to reply again, he scrolls through his Twitter feed. Niall has posted a picture that looks like it was taken in a pub, and Liam is apparently live tweeting a film. There’s the usual promo from the famous people Louis follows. Eleanor has tweeted about being excited to be home and out of Manchester. Louis refreshes the feed, and a tweet from Harry appears, which Louis favourites as soon as he reads.

_**@Harry_Styles:** New friends are fun xx_

-

"And you’re sure you don’t need help carrying your things up?" Jay asks, hovering around the open boot of the car.

"I’m sure, Mum," Louis says, adjusting his school bag over his shoulder and grabbing the bag with his clothes from the boot. "See, I’ve got it."

"Okay," she says, closing the boot for him. "I love you."

"Love you too, Mum. I’ll see you at the Easter holidays." Louis gives his mum a one-armed hug, then waves as she gets back in the car and starts the engine. He waits until she’s started down the road, and then Louis heads into his building, trudging up the stairs. His bags are kind of heavy. Finally, he makes it up both flights of stairs and to his flat. He unlocks the door and pushes it open, dropping his bags gratefully the moment he’s over the threshold. There’s no one in the kitchen or common area, and Louis wonders if anyone else is back yet. 

"Hello?" he calls, as he closes the door behind him. "Anyone home?" 

No one answers. Louis lifts his bags again and carries them into his room. He leaves his school bag sitting beside his desk, but he unzips the other bag and starts putting his clothes away. When he finishes, he retrieves his laptop from his school bag and sets it up on his desk, then takes out a few books he won’t need to carry around the next day and sets them beside his laptop. That done, he wanders back out into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator. It’s depressingly empty, only a few drinks and an extremely dodgy looking lettuce inside. 

Louis has just taken the lettuce out, intending to chuck it in the rubbish bin, when the door opens and Liam comes in, carrying a suitcase with his school bag over his shoulder. He looks at Louis curiously, then says slowly, "Please tell me you’re not going to eat that."

Louis snorts. "Of course not, Payno. I was just about to throw it away."

"Oh, good. How was your holiday?"

"Pretty good," Louis says, finally throwing the lettuce in the bin. "It was good to see my mum and my sisters and my mates from home. How was yours?"

"Same," Liam says. He disappears in the direction of his room, calling back, "I swear, my mum acted like I’d been gone for years or something."

"Yeah, it was the same for me." Louis listens to Liam clatter around in his room for a moment before he's struck by an idea. "Hey," he calls, "do you want to run to Tescos with me?"

"Sure!" Liam calls back. "Just give me a minute."

Louis agrees, then grabs his mobile to text Zayn and Niall.

_me and Liam are going to Tescos. Do u want anything? What time are u back?_

Niall's reply comes almost immediately.

_Wait for me? I'm five mins away._

Louis replies in the affirmative and then, as Liam comes back into the kitchen, says, "Niall wants us to wait for him, says he's five minutes out."

"Okay," Liam says. "What about Zayn?"

"He hasn't replied yet. Oh--hang on," Louis says as his phone vibrates in his hand. He looks down at it, and immediately grins.

"Zayn?" Liam asks.

"No, Harry," Louis replies absently, reading the message.

_You make it home safe?_

"Harry?" Liam asks, surprised. "Twitter Harry?"

Louis hums in agreement as he types out a reply.

"You gave him your number?"

Louis looks up at Liam, who's looking back at him with his eyebrows furrowed, lower lip worrying between his teeth. "Yeah, so?" he says. "We ending up talking a lot during the holidays, and figured it would be easier to exchange numbers than to keep clogging up our Twitter feeds."

"That sounds kind of sketchy to me," Liam says.

"I gave him my mobile number, Liam, not my home address. It's fine. In fact, he gave me his number first."

"Yeah, but--"

There's a thud against the door, and the jingling of keys, and the sound of someone struggling. Liam pauses in his diatribe and opens the door, taking pity on Niall.

"I almost had it!" Niall groans as the door swings open and his keys drop to the ground.

"Sure you did, Nialler," Louis says, eyeing the two bags, guitar case, and knapsack Niall is lugging into the flat.

"That's enough from you," Niall grumbles, heading to his room with his burden.

"Niall," Liam calls after him, "tell Louis that it's sketchy for him to have given his mobile number to that Harry guy he met on Twitter."

"Stranger danger, Lou!" Niall shouts, his sentence punctuated by the loud thud of his luggage hitting the floor. He returns to the common area and wags a finger at Louis. "What have Mummy and I taught you about strangers?"

"Hey," Liam protests.

"Daddy and I, then," Niall amends.

Louis rolls his eyes. "Look, it's not like that. I already told Liam, Harry gave me his number first, it's fine."

"He could be a forty year old paedophile, though," Liam says.

"He is not, he's seventeen."

"Are you sure? His profile picture is a cat. I'm pretty sure he's not a cat," Niall says.

Louis rolls his eyes again. "Of course he's not a cat, he--" and then he pauses. He doesn't actually know what Harry looks like, he realises. He doesn't think Niall and Liam are right, of course, but he sends off another message to Harry anyway.

_Niall and Liam think your a creepy old bloke or a cat. You’re not a cat are you ?_

"Anyway," Louis says, a little too loud, "are you lads ready to head out?"

"I guess we are," Niall says. "Is Zayn back yet?"

"No," Louis says. "And he hasn't replied to my text either."

"Let's just get him some of those biscuits he likes," Liam suggests.

Niall nods. "Good idea. All right, let's go."

Liam and Niall are still wearing their jackets, so Louis heads into his room to grab his own, and then they leave the flat together. 

"How were your holidays, Niall?" Liam asks as they descend the stairs.

Niall grins. "Awesome. Me and Bressie threw a huge New Year's party, I wish you lads could have seen it. And it was great to see all my family. How about yours?"

Talking about their holidays lasts them until they arrive at Tescos. They catch up with everything they hadn't told each other through texting or Twitter, and recount a few things they had talked about already. 

Louis' phone goes off with a text message from Zayn a few moments after they reach the store. 

_I’m actually already back. I’ll go shopping soon don’t worry about me. Cheers though mate._

Louis frowns at his screen. "Zayn says he's already back," he says to the others. 

Liam frowns too. "He definitely wasn’t at the flat though, was he, Lou? You got there before I did. "

Louis shakes his head. "No, there was no one there when I got back. It didn't look like anyone had been there at all, but I didn't exactly check in everyone's rooms. I guess he could have put his things away and I wouldn't have noticed."

"So where is he then?" Niall asks. "If he wasn’t at the flat."

Louis replies to Zayn's text asking exactly that. Then he puts his phone away and definitely doesn’t feel disappointed that he hasn't heard back from Harry. 

The three boys each grab a basket and make the rounds at Tescos, throwing things into the baskets and teasing each other about their choices. 

"Really Lou, do you even know how to make spag bol?" Niall asks, as Louis tosses a box of pasta into his basket. 

"You do know you can't survive on beer alone," Louis snarks back, indicating the case Niall's carrying in his left hand and the so far empty basket in his right.

"Both of you, behave," Liam says, rolling his eyes. 

Niall and Louis look at each other, and then, almost in unison, say, "Nah." But they grin at each other, and at Liam, and he heaves a put upon sigh. 

"You’re both impossible, you know that," he says, selecting a bottle of juice and putting it in his basket, beside the veg and Zayn’s biscuits already there. 

"Yeah, well, you love us," Niall says, and Liam doesn’t disagree

They're nearly all the way around the store when Louis' mobile vibrates with a call from Eleanor. He hasn’t talked to her in a few days, so he figures he’d better answer it.

"Hi, babe," she says when he does. "Are you back yet?"

"Yeah," Louis says. "I'm at the shops picking up some things. Are you back?"

"Uh-huh," Eleanor says. "I just got unpacked. How was your holiday?"

"It was fine," Louis says. "And yours?"

"It was great," Eleanor enthuses. "Really good, I had so much fun catching up with my friends and family. I missed you though. Too bad we didn't get to kiss on New Year’s at midnight. You know, they say the person you kiss at midnight is the person you're going to kiss all year."

Louis snorts. "I hope not." He himself had engaged in a drunken snog with Stan, and he’s not keen to repeat the experience.

"Oh," Eleanor says, a strange tone in her voice. "Who did you kiss at midnight, then?"

"Just my mate, Stan," Louis hastens to explain. "I didn't proper kiss anyone, it was just for a laugh, you know. I wish you had been there instead."

Eleanor sounds slightly mollified when she continues, "Well, Lou, when you finish at the shops, you should come round. I'm just going to be here all night, I don’t have anything planned. Unless you’re busy?"

"No," Louis says, following Liam and Niall as they motion him toward the checkout. "I don’t have any plans."

"Good! When do you think you'll be here, then?"

"Erm, I don't know, El. In an hour or so maybe?"

"Okay," Eleanor says, giggling. "I'll see you then, Lou."

"See you," Louis replies, before hanging up. He quickly joins the queue behind Niall. "Hey, I'm going to go see Eleanor when we get back. She said she misses me, so." Louis shrugs.

"That’s cool. I’m sure you miss her too," Liam says. 

Louis opens his mouth to reply, but then pauses. The thing is...he doesn't, really. He was perfectly content being home with his friends and his family, and he definitely missed Niall, Liam, and Zayn more than he missed Eleanor. He doesn’t really want to examine that too closely. 

The three boys head back toward their flat, each carrying a paper sack apiece. Louis shifts his from one arm to the other and spares a moment to be glad he hadn’t bought more, although he knows he’ll have to come out again soon. That or live off take away, and he knows he can’t do that, or he’ll run out of money. 

His mobile vibrates with a text message halfway back to the flat, and he shifts his bag to the other side again so he can reach in his pocket for it. "Zayn says he’s visiting a friend," he reports.

"I bet it’s that girl, again," Niall says. "When is he just going to tell us about her?"

"I don’t know why he’s hiding it in the first place," Liam says quietly. "Doesn’t he know he can trust us?"

"I’m sure he does," Louis says. "It’s probably like you said to start with, he doesn’t want us to make fun of him about her."

Liam doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t press the issue. The rest of the way back to the flat, they discuss classes starting up again and exams they have coming up, and the end of their first semester of uni that’s fast approaching. 

Back at the flat, Louis takes his time putting away the food he’d bought, and then he dawdles in the common area for a few minutes, checking first his text messages, and then Twitter. He hesitates for so long that Niall, watching telly on the sofa, finally cranes his neck to look at him where he’s standing awkwardly in the corner, and says, "If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you didn’t want to see your girlfriend."

"I--of course I want to see her," Louis mumbles. He ignores Niall’s answering look and leaves the flat. He calls Eleanor as he does to let her know he’s on his way. 

They end up talking the whole time he’s walking over to her flat, and only hang up with he tells her he’s waiting outside and she comes to let him in. 

"Hi," Eleanor says when she opens the door, leaning up to kiss him

"Hi," Louis replies, when they separate. Eleanor giggles and takes his hand, leading him down the hall and to her flat. 

They sit on the sofa and Eleanor turns on the TV, but she immediately starts talking, telling him about how a couple of her flatmates aren’t back yet, and then in almost the same breath launches into a story about something she and one of her friends from home had done over the holidays. Louis tries to pay attention, he does, but his thoughts wander to his mobile and the messages he hasn’t gotten from Harry.

"…and we didn’t even go to sleep until the sun was up."

"Oh, yeah?" Louis says, realizing he hadn’t heard most of the story and hoping Eleanor won’t notice.

"Are you even listening to me?" she demands.

Louis hesitates, then says honestly, "I’m a little distracted." Then, as a sort of apology, he kisses her.

Eleanor must accept his apology, because she kisses back with interest.

-

When Louis gets back to the flat around midnight, he’s just in time to grab the door before it swings closed behind someone else. The lights are all off; the others must be in bed already. But in the strip of light from the hall, Louis can see Zayn shrugging out of his jacket before the door closes and they’re plunged into darkness, the only illumination in the room coming from the street lamps outside the window.

"Hey," Louis says quietly, so as not to wake Liam and Niall.

"Hi," Zayn replies. "Where’ve you been?"

"El’s," Louis says. "Where have _you_ been?"

"At a friend’s place," Zayn says, a beat too late. "It’s, um, late though, I’m pretty tired. We’ll catch up tomorrow, yeah?"

Louis nods. "Yeah, definitely." He follows Zayn into the hallway to their bedrooms, pausing behind him as he goes into his room and turns on the light. Before he can shut his door though, Louis says, "Hey, Z?"

Zayn turns around. "Yeah?"

"Your shirt’s on inside out."

Louis lingers in Zayn’s doorway just long enough to see him check, and then flush when he realises Louis isn’t joking. 

Louis doesn’t bother turning on the light in his own room, just strips out of his clothes and gets into bed. He leans over the edge to retrieve his phone from the pocket of his discarded jeans so he can set his alarm for morning. Then, since his phone is already in his hand, Louis checks for messages and notifications he might have missed while he was busy with Eleanor. There aren’t any. Finally, Louis opens up the Twitter app, just in case.

He scrolls through his feed, skimming over an exchange between Niall and Liam, made when they must have been sitting right beside each other, a few famous people promoting their latest work, and--a tweet from Harry. He nearly misses it, because instead of the black and white cat he’s come to associate with him, Harry’s profile picture is now an actual human.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** "You’re not a cat, are you?"

Louis smiles to himself. This is something Harry does, he’s noticed: tweeting random quotes from his friends with no context. Louis is glad to be counted among them now.

He clicks on Harry’s picture to bring up the larger version and studies it. Harry’s quite fit, with a mop of curly brown hair, even more curly and wild than Liam’s before he cut it. His green eyes are bright above a wide, dimpled smile, and he’s wearing a scarf over a white t-shirt. Louis can scarcely remember how he had imagined Harry in his head, because the real Harry fits perfectly with the boy Louis has come to know. 

**_@Louis_Tomlinson:_** @Harry_Styles: hahaha I am being slowly seduced by your curls

Louis intends to set his mobile beside his bed and go to sleep, he does, except it vibrates in his hand before he can put it down, so naturally he has to check the notification.

**_@Harry_Styles:_** @Louis_Tomlinson: i know..That was my plan.

**@Harry_Styles:** @Louis_Tomlinson: Shouldn’t you be sleeping?

**@Louis_Tomlinson:** @Harry_Styles: Shouldn’t you ?

**@Harry_Styles:** @Louis_Tomlinson: Probably

**@Louis_Tomlinson:** @Harry_Styles: So why aren’t you ?

Louis waits, but Twitter is silent. He’s disappointed for a moment, but then his phone vibrates again, this time with a text message.

_So much for not clogging up twitter_

_Are you ashamed of me Harold ?_

_NO!!! of course not. We can go back on twitter if you want_

_that’s ok. But why r u awake ? don’t you have college in the morning ?_

_yeah but you have class too. So why are YOU awake_

_Just got back from eleanors._

_Oh. You win._

They keep texting. Louis tells Harry about going to Eleanor’s, and how he’s still waiting for it to really click with her. Harry doesn’t have any new advice, but he distracts Louis with a picture of his cat, whose name is apparently Dusty. Then Harry tells Louis about driving his sister Gemma back to uni…

…And Louis wakes up, phone alarm blaring too close. He sits bolt upright in bed, and realises he’d fallen asleep on his mobile. He rubs a hand over his face, feeling the lines it’s pressed into his cheek. Lovely. He turns off the alarm, and the screen goes to the exchange he’d been having with Harry last night, which he’d inadvertently abandoned. He reads the string of messages Harry had sent him after he’d gone to sleep, shaking his head fondly.

_And anyway we talk all the time when she’s gone._

_Lou?_

_Louis?_

_Did you fall asleep on me?_

_Maybe you just went to the loo?_

_Ha, Lou, loo._

_Sorry._

_I guess youre asleep._

_Sweet dreams xx_

He sends one text of his own before he starts to get ready for the day.

_Sorry love fell asleep. Have a good day x_

-

Louis is having a terrible day. The new semester has only just started and he’s already behind in one of his classes, having forgotten to do an assignment and then oversleeping this morning and missing the first part of the lecture. His order got mixed up when he stopped at a café and he ended up with very strong, black coffee instead of the tea he was craving. He couldn’t bring himself to drink it, and he didn’t have time to go back to get it corrected either, so he carried the useless cup with him to class, where he spilled it all over his desk and his lap. 

The only redeeming thing about today is that it’s Wednesday, and he has an evening of pizza and good company to look forward to. Zayn isn’t waiting for him after class, so he walks back to the flat alone, ignoring the funny looks he’s getting because of the wet spot on his jeans. 

As soon as Louis gets through the door, he drops his bag and starts stripping out of his jeans, not even waiting to get into his room. It’s not like there’s anyone home. Besides, Niall wanders around in his pants enough that he’s sure no one would care if he started doing it too. Louis does wait until he’s in his room before he takes his pants off, though. He gets a pair of trackies out of his wardrobe and pulls them on, sighing a little at how nice it feels to finally be dry, although he probably still smells like coffee.

A day like this calls for a talk with his mum, he decides. So he opens his laptop and logs onto Skype, hoping his mum will be online. She’d said she had today off last week when he’d talked to her, and she usually has the computer on when she’s home. But no one is online at all.

Louis goes back out to the kitchen to get his phone out of the front pocket of his bag. He’d wanted to see his mum, but a regular old phone call will work too.

Except that the call goes to voicemail. 

"Hi Mum, it’s me, just called to say hey. Love you, bye." Louis sighs and returns to his room, throwing himself across his bed. Maybe he’ll just take a nap, at least nothing else can go wrong while he’s sleeping. But he’s not actually tired, so that isn’t really an option. He picks up his phone again and thumbs through it. He has three new text messages. 

The first one, from Stan, says _fifa soon?_ Louis replies with _for sure, when ?_ and then moves to the next message. It’s from Eleanor, and it’s just a heart. He doesn’t really know what to say to that, so he ignores it and opens the third message. This one is from Harry, and it says _hi! how are u today?_ Louis considers saying he’s fine, but in the end he goes with the truth.

_Having a bad day. Missed class, spilled coffee all over myself. I didn’t even want coffee it was supposed to be tea_

He follows that up with _sorry mum isn’t on Skype to complain to_.

Harry replies almost immediately. _aw :( I’m sorry. Hey why don’t we skype?_

_Right now ?_

_I meant in general but yeah why not? Are you busy?_

_No I’m still logged on to skype. My username is louist91_

Louis sits up and runs a hand through his hair. It probably looks terrible, he hadn’t had time this morning to do anything with it, so it’s just kind of flopping there. Maybe he can run to the bathroom and fix it before--

His laptop chimes with the incoming Skype call sound. Louis sighs, resigned to "meeting" Harry with bad hair, and sits at his desk to accept the call.

He sees Harry staring at the screen in concentration, and then a grins spreads across his face as he sees Louis. "Hi Lou!" he says, and whoa. Louis was not expecting his voice to sound like that, all deep and slow.

"Hi," Louis replies, hoping Harry will attribute his long pause to Skype lagging. "This is kind of weird," he goes on.

"Good weird?" Harry asks hopefully.

Louis nods. "Yeah, I think so. I’m just used to you being words on a screen, you know?"

"Same here. But it’s nice to talk to you in person…sort of." He grins again, pushing a stray curl out of his face. "So, tell me about your bad day."

"Ugh, I don’t even want to talk about it. I overslept and was late to class, and I would have just skipped it but it’s the second week of the semester, and I stopped to get tea on the way but I got coffee instead and I hate coffee and I spilled it all over my lap and--and fuck this day!" He folds his arms and pouts.

Harry has a hand pressed over his mouth, trying and failing to hide his giggle. "I’m sorry, it’s not funny, just--"

Louis gives in and laughs too. "I know, I’m being ridiculous. How was your day?"

"Better than yours," Harry says mischievously. 

"Ugh, I hate you Harold."

"You do not," Harry replies without missing a beat. "Anyway, I went to college and then I came home. That’s pretty much it." He looks away from the camera for a moment, and clicks his tongue. "Dusty!" he calls, in a much higher voice than usual. "Dusty, come here!" He disappears from the frame and then reappears a moment later, holding the cat. "Dusty, meet Louis."

Louis grins. "Hi, Dusty," he says, wiggling his fingers in a wave. The cat lunges forward, and Harry laughs. 

"She tried to bat your hand," he tells Louis. He ducks out of the frame for a moment, and when he straightens again, Dusty is no longer in his lap. "She likes you. I can tell."

"Well, good," Louis says. "I like her too. And her owner isn't too bad either, I suppose."

Their banter comes easily, and Louis is glad. He hadn't really thought much about what it would be like to talk to Harry in real life, but if he had, he definitely would have expected it to be a lot more stilted and awkward. But it's just as easy to talk to him this way as on Twitter or through texts, and two hours pass quickly. 

Louis is still laughing over a truly awful pun Harry has just made when he hears Niall call out, "Honey, I’m home!"

"Hi, Niall!" Louis composes himself enough to call in reply. Then he turns his attention back to Harry on his laptop screen. "That was terrible," he tells him. "There was no excuse for that."

Harry shrugs. "I thought it was good. And you seemed to think it was pretty funny a minute ago."

"That’s not even the point, Harold. You--"

"Who are you talking to, Tommo?" Niall asks, appearing in Louis' open doorway.

"Harry," Louis says, looking up at Niall.

"Paedophile Cat Harry?"

"Niall!" Louis hisses, glancing down at Harry on his screen. Harry is clearly trying hard not to laugh. "He’s on Skype right now."

"Oops," Niall says, not sounding the slightest bit sorry. He steps into Louis' room and comes up behind him so he can see the laptop screen. "Hi, I’m Niall," he says to Harry, who waves. "Just making sure you’re not going to murder our Lou."

Harry shakes his head. "Never," he says, crossing his heart. 

"You’re such a dork," Louis tells him.

"Anyway, that’s all," Niall says. "Lou, have you heard from Zayn about what time he’ll be back or what film he wants to watch?"

"No," Louis says, frowning. "Now that you mention it, I haven’t."

"Hey, I should let you go," Harry says.

Immediately, Louis turns back to him. "No, you don’t have to," he says. "We just started talking." 

"It’s been like two hours, though," Harry says.

"It doesn’t feel like it."

"I know. And we should definitely do this again."

Louis nods. "Yes, absolutely. We’ll have to set up another Skype date soon."

"Okay. Byeee."

"Bye," Louis says, and then Harry disconnects. 

When Louis looks up at Niall again, Niall has his mobile to his ear, waiting. After a moment, he begins speaking, brow furrowed. "Hey man, it's me. Louis and I were wondering what time you're getting home, and what film you're wanting to watch. See you later." He ends the call, then tells Louis, unnecessarily, "Zayn didn't answer."

"Well, he'll probably be back soon. He must not have heard his mobile. What do you want to watch?"

Niall shrugs. "I don't really care. I'm up for anything." He's quiet for a moment, then he says, "So."

"So what?"

"So Harry."

"What about him?" Louis asks.

"He seems nice."

Louis eyes Niall suspiciously. "He is. He's really nice. I've been telling you that for weeks."

"I guess you were right. I approve."

"Well, thanks, Nialler, for your seal of approval." Louis tips his chair back on two legs so he can snag the pillow off his bed to hit Niall with it. Then he tosses the pillow back onto the bed, stands, and stretches. "Come on, let's get the pizza ordered so it'll be here when Liam gets back."

Niall grins. "Now you're talking."

The two of them go out into the common area and sit on the sofa. Louis calls in the pizza, placing their usual order. When he hangs up, Niall has his mobile in hand, staring down at it with a frown on his face.

"What is it?" Louis asks.

"Zayn just texted me. He says that he's not going to be back until late because he has a big assignment that's due tomorrow. He's going to be in the _library_ all night," Niall says meaningfully. Then, in case Louis missed it, he adds, "Where Perrie works."

Louis shakes his head. "Why won't he just admit he's seeing her? This is ridiculous!" He nearly shouts the last bit.

"What's ridiculous?" Liam asks a moment later as he comes in, before he even has the door to the flat all the way open. "I could hear you all the way at the end of the corridor."

"Zayn," Louis says. "He's ditching us tonight. He says its to work on an assignment, but we think he's going to be with Perrie."

Liam doesn't say anything, just goes to his room to drop off his bag and jacket. When he come back out, he says, "I think we need to tell him that we know about them. Then he can stop sneaking around."

"What happened to, ‘when he wants us to know he’ll tell us’ then?" Louis asks

Niall shakes his head. "No, you're right, Payno. Let's talk to him when he comes home tonight. Neither of you lads have plans after, do you? Lou, no dates with Eleanor?"

"No," Louis says. "Nothing."

"Right then. Liam, it’s your turn to pay for the pizza, and it should be here soon, so keep a look out. It’s just the three of us tonight, so what all do you want to watch?"

Louis shrugs, so Niall turns expectantly to Liam. Liam bites his lip, looking almost shy, before he says, "Um, how about _Toy Story_?"

"I could watch _Toy Story_ ," Louis agrees. "Ni?"

"Why not? It’s been ages since I’ve seen that movie."

"I have the DVD in my room," Liam admits. "I'll go get it." He disappears into his room again, and Louis exchanges a smile with Niall. Of course Liam has _Toy Story_ on DVD. Of course he does. Liam returns less than a minute later, DVD in hand. Niall takes it from him and gets it set up. 

"This will be a nice change," he says as he does. "Actually watching something on the television screen instead of a laptop screen."

"Yeah," Louis agrees. "We'll actually get some use out of the television for once."

Liam snorts. "Like you're not using it to play FIFA every day anyway."

"I don't play FIFA every day!" Louis protests. "And you're supposed to be keeping an eye out for the pizza, so go to the window."

Liam obeys.

-

After _Toy Story_ , they watch _Toy Story 2_ , and after that, _Toy Story 3_. They're more than halfway through it when they hear Zayn's key in the lock.

Niall pauses the DVD, just as Lotso looms menacingly on the screen, and all three of them turn to stare at Zayn as he comes in.

Zayn closes the door behind him before he turns to face them. He starts when he sees them all staring at him. "Don't do that!" he scolds them. "What are you all doing anyway?"

" _Toy Story_ marathon," Liam explains.

"The better question is, what were _you_ doing instead of watching it with us?" Louis says.

Zayn looks away and mumbles, "Working on an assignment."

"With who?" Liam asks.

"No one? It wasn’t a group assignment."

"Bullshit," Niall declares.

"Z, we saw you with Perrie before Christmas. Why have you been lying to us?" Liam asks, practically giving Zayn puppy dog eyes.

Zayn sighs. "I really, really like her. And that's new for me, I've never really been seriously committed to one girl before. And like, I don't know, I've been kind of freaking out about it?"

Louis stands up and smacks Zayn in the chest. "You could have talked to us about it! We're you're friends."

"I know, but…I don’t know. It was stupid."

Liam nods. "You’re right. But we forgive you."

"On two conditions," Niall adds quickly. "One, you bring her round so we can meet her properly. And two, you don’t miss movie night again. We made a rule about that after Louis pulled this same shit on us. It was _your rule_ , Malik."

"Okay," Zayn agrees.

"Now come on, finish this movie with us," Louis says, pulling Zayn over to the sofa. Niall and Liam immediately scoot closer together, Niall practically squashed against the arm, and Louis pushes Zayn down beside Liam before slotting himself in beside Zayn, pressed against the other arm. "So, how long have you been dating?"

Zayn blushes. "Er, just since the first day back from Christmas hols. We were hanging out before that, but I called her at midnight on New Year’s and then we talked all night, and we talked every day the rest of the holidays. So I went to see her the first day back, and we got together then."

"Aw," Liam says, and he sounds so sincere Louis isn’t sure if he’s teasing or not.

"So cute I could puke," Niall agrees. "Now let’s finish this film." Niall unpauses the film and they settle in to watch.

When the movie finishes, Liam openly has tears running down his face, Zayn and Niall look a little teary, and Louis feels a little teary himself. Niall looks around at them, then says, "We are never telling anyone we cried at a kid's movie, agreed?"

"Agreed," Zayn and Louis say in unison, and Liam nods.

"Okay. Next week we're watching something with explosions and car chases. But now I'm going to bed. Good night, lads." Niall stands up, and heads towards his room, the others calling their good nights after him.

Louis stands as well. "I'm going to bed too," he says. "Good night."

"Night, Lou," Zayn says.

"Night," Liam echoes.

Louis heads into his room, then grabs his phone off his desk so he can set his alarm. As he does, he finds a text from Harry.

_Hope you had fun at your movie night. Good night xx_

Louis smiles fondly at his phone and types back _I did we had a toy story marathon. Good night x_

-

Zayn is as good as his word and brings Perrie over the very next night. Niall and Louis team up to make dinner for all of them, because Louis _does_ know how to make spag bol actually, thanks, and Zayn drags his desk chair into the kitchen so there’s enough seating for everyone around the table. Liam sets the table, everything mismatched from all the different dishes everyone had brought with them.

Zayn’s mobile chimes in his pocket, and he retrieves it. "Perrie’s downstairs. I’m going to go let her in, yeah? Be right back."

"Okay," Niall agrees, moving to the sink to rinse some of the dishes they’ve finished with. 

Zayn slips out the door. When he returns a few minutes later, he’s carrying a bottle of wine in one hand, and leading Perrie in with the other. Perrie’s blonde hair has streaks of lavender in it now, Louis notices.

"Look what Pezza brought us," Zayn says, handing the wine off to Liam, who puts it on the table and heads back to the drawers to find a corkscrew. "Guys, this is Perrie. Perrie, that’s Liam foraging for cutlery, Niall at the sink, and Louis--OI! The rest of us have to eat off that, too!"

Louis looks at Zayn and deliberately licks the spoon he’s using the stir the sauce again. "Shut up Zayn, like we’ve never shared spoons before."

"Less talk of spoons, please," Liam says, laying the corkscrew on the table.

"Liam is scared of spoons," Louis informs Perrie. 

Liam shakes his head. "I’m not scared of them, they just--make me nervous."

Perrie laughs. "Well, we won’t let them get you."

"I like her," Louis says. "Come on, food’s ready. Everyone grab a plate; I’m not serving you all." There’s a flurry of activity as they all take plates from the table and line up beside the counter to serve themselves from the pot on the cooker, and then sit down. 

Perrie fits in with them right away, talking music with Niall, gently teasing Liam, even drawing Louis into a good-spirited argument about football teams. Meanwhile, she and Zayn keep exchanging little smiles, and Louis is pretty sure they’re holding hands under the table, since last time he checked, Niall was the only one who was left-handed, and Zayn keeps missing his mouth with his fork as he tries to eat with his left hand.

It’s only when they’ve cleared away most of the dishes from the table, wine glasses refilled and a packet of biscuits open in the middle of them as a last-minute dessert that it really strikes Louis how different Zayn and Perrie already are from him and Eleanor. Louis has always felt like he has to keep his life with Eleanor separate from his life with his friends, because he can’t see how they would ever mesh, and here are Zayn and Perrie, fitting seamlessly. Louis doesn’t know, of course, but he gets the feeling that Zayn will fit into Perrie’s life just as easily. And that’s how it should be, Louis thinks. That’s what he would want in an ideal relationship. 

Liam volunteers to do the washing up, since Louis and Niall cooked, and Perrie offers to help him. Niall stays seated at the table, chatting, but Zayn heads outside to smoke, and Louis joins him.

"Perrie’s great," Louis says, as they sit on the steps of the building, cement cold underneath them. "I like her, and Niall and Liam seem to, too."

"I’m glad," Zayn mumbles around a filter, lighting up. He offers the pack to Louis, who takes one.

"Thanks," Louis says when he’s gotten his own cigarette lit. "You guys are good together," he goes on. "Like. I wish me and Eleanor were like that."

Zayn surveys Louis for a moment, taking a drag, the tip of his cigarette flaring orange. "Do you?" he asks finally, and exhales.

Louis doesn’t answer right away, busying himself with flicking ask from the end of his cigarette. "I don’t know," he eventually admits. "I want to. I don’t think I actually do."

"Do you even like her?" Zayn asks gently.

"I want to," Louis repeats, pausing to take a drag from his cigarette. He tries to blow a smoke ring, just to stall for time.

Zayn must take pity on him, because he indulges in Louis' diversion, blowing a perfect smoke ring, and then tries to show Louis how to do it.

After three more failed attempts, and a coughing fit when he inhales too harshly out of frustration, Louis rubs his cigarette out on the ground and says, "Eleanor is nice. And she likes me, I know she does. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. But it’s just not clicking for me. I thought it would, eventually. I don’t think it’s going to though."

"No," Zayn agrees. "I don’t think it works that way."

Louis sighs. "It was easier with my last girlfriend, Hannah. We’d been friends for awhile, so when we started dating nothing really changed. I mean, we kissed and we were each other’s firsts, but for the most part, it was--it was comfortable and easy. We were still friends."

Zayn takes one last drag and then puts out his own cigarette. "And you’re not with Eleanor?"

"No, because we weren’t friends first, I guess. I thought we were just hanging out, but she thought we were dating, so--I would have felt like a dick telling her it was just casual."

"When Perrie and I first started talking, yeah, I guess we were friends first. But I felt like we had a connection right away that was more than that," Zayn says. "If you’re going to have that click, Lou, I think it happens right away, even if the relationship doesn’t until later."

Louis’s thoughts immediately jump to Harry. To distract himself from that thought, he says "Are you sure you were only smoking a regular cigarette, Zayn? That’s pretty deep."

"Oh, shut up," Zayn says. "I guess our moment’s over, huh?"

Louis nods. "Yeah, I think I’ve sufficiently discussed my feelings now." The pair of them stand up and head back inside the building in companionable silence. Just before they re-enter the flat though, Louis reaches out and grabs Zayn’s elbow. "Hey, Z. Thanks," he says, opening the door before Zayn can reply.

Liam and Perrie are just finishing the last couple dishes, and Niall is carrying Zayn’s chair back to his room. 

"Took you long enough," Perrie teases, handing the final dish to Liam to dry. "We thought you got lost."

"Nah," Louis says. "Zayn was trying to teach me to blow smoke rings."

"Louis is a terrible student, by the way," Zayn chimes in. 

"Maybe you’re a terrible teacher," Niall offers, returning to the kitchen. 

Liam laughs, closing the cupboard door after putting away the last plate. "Or both."

"Seems about right," Perrie says. "Well, boys, this has been a lot of fun, but I think I’ve had enough testosterone for the night. Zayn, walk me home?"

Zayn nods. "Yeah, definitely."

"We won’t wait up," Niall calls as they head out the door. Zayn blushes, but Perrie cheerfully flips him off just before the door closes behind them. "Ooh, she’s a keeper," Niall says, delighted. 

"She is," Louis agrees, taking a seat on the sofa and taking out his mobile to text Harry; he’d promised to let him know how the dinner went.

"Did their cuteness make you miss Eleanor?" Liam teases. "You just have to talk to her now?"

Louis rolls his eyes. "I’m not talking to Eleanor, I’m talking to Harry."

"Oh," Liam says, in a completely different tone. Louis looks up in time to see him exchange looks with Niall. 

Louis frowns and looks back down at his mobile and waits for Harry to reply.

-

"Hi, Lou!" 

Louis looks up from where he’d been drawing shapes in the sugar crystals spilled across the table to see Eleanor standing in front of him. He hadn’t seen her come into the café. 

"Hi," he says. "I got you a latte."

"Thanks," Eleanor says, smiling at him as she sits in the seat across from him and picks up her cup. "So, why the impromptu coffee date? Not that I’m complaining; any chance to see my boyfriend is okay with me."

Louis looks down at the table again. He already feels like a dickhead, and he hasn’t even started yet. "We, um, we need to talk, El." And he didn’t mean to use the most clichéd line in the world, but he did, and when he chances a glance up at Eleanor’s face, she looks stunned.

"You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?"

Louis winces. "Um."

"But--I thought we were doing so well together. Is there someone else?" Her voice quavers on the last word.

"There’s no one else." Louis sighs, takes a sip of the tea in front him just to give himself another few seconds to gather his thoughts. "You know how sometimes when you meet someone, you have like, an instant connection?"

Eleanor nods, looking apprehensive.

"Well, I didn’t really…have that, with us. I should have said something a long time ago, but at the beginning…we were hanging out together, but I--"

"You didn’t know we were dating," Eleanor says, sounding like she’s putting pieces together. "And I just assumed you wanted us to be, because I did. But you didn’t, did you?"

Louis shakes his head. "I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, so I didn’t say anything. And I do like you. But not as a girlfriend. I thought I could, I don’t know, make myself love you. But I just can’t. I’m sorry."

"I feel so stupid," Eleanor says. "I thought--no, you know what? It doesn’t matter." Eleanor’s voice rises with each word. "You should have said something before now, Louis, instead of letting me think--"

"I know," Louis says quickly. He stands up. "And I really am sorry." He leaves the café, leaves Eleanor sitting there, latte untouched in front of her. 

Louis pulls out his phone as soon as he’s on the street, bringing up Zayn’s number in his contacts and pressing the call button as he starts to head back to the flat.

"I broke up with Eleanor," he says as soon as Zayn answers. 

"Shit. Are you okay?" Zayn asks.

Louis nods automatically, even though Zayn can’t see him. "I think I am? I feel bad, because she got upset, but I feel, like, relieved too?"

"That makes sense," Zayn agrees. In the background, Louis hears a giggle that is definitely feminine. Louis wonders what he’s interrupting, then decides he probably doesn’t want to know. Either way, he figures he should let Zayn get back to it.

"Anyway, I’ll let you go. I just wanted you to know," Louis says.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" Zayn asks. "We can talk longer."

"No, it’s fine," Louis says. "I’ll see you at home later. Or--tomorrow, or whatever."

"Later," Zayn corrects. "We’ll talk more then, yeah?"

"Yeah," Louis says. "See you." 

Louis ends the call and immediately starts a new text message to Harry.

_I broke up w eleanor_

He gets a reply right away, and gets drawn into a conversation.

_Are you okay?_

_Why does everyone ask that ? I’m fine : )_

_Really?_

_Yes_

_Well good. I know you haven’t been happy._

_How are you ? We always talk about me haha !_

_Not always. I’m fine too :)_

_No girl trouble?_

_Nope_

_Boy trouble ? ; )_

_Well actually…_

Louis looks down at his screen. He’s not sure if Harry is joking or not. If it’s just a joke then he doesn’t want to make too big a deal out of it. On the other hand, if Harry is coming out to him, then he doesn’t want to make too _little_ a deal out of it. He doesn’t really know what to do. He’s almost back to the flat at any rate, so he shoves his mobile into his pocket and concentrates on crossing the road without being run down by a stray lorry or something.

It’s only when he’s back in the flat that Louis pulls his phone out again. He still doesn’t know what to say, and Harry hasn’t sent any more messages to give him a clue. Finally, he settles on _Yeah ?_

Now Harry’s the one taking a long time to respond. Louis knows Zayn is out with Perrie, but neither Liam nor Niall seem to be home either, so Louis sits on the sofa and calls his Mum. He doesn’t remember if she’s working or not today, or what time she gets off if she is, but he hopes she’ll answer. After three rings, she does. 

They talk for a bit about the girls and Louis' classes, and then Jay asks, "How’s Eleanor?"

"She’s quite upset, I’d imagine, since I broke up with her today."

"Oh?"

"It just wasn’t right, Mum," Louis says, almost pleadingly.

Jay’s voice is gentle when she says, "I didn’t think it was. You talk so much about your friends and so little about her. And you spent so much time talking to that Harry boy when you were home for Christmas, I thought you were talking to Eleanor at first."

"Yeah," Louis agrees. "But like. I’m happier now, or I will be when I stop feeling like shit about how upset she is, so. It’s not a bad thing." Louis' phone beeps in his ear, letting him know that he’s just received a text message. "I’ll talk to you and the girls soon on Skype, okay?"

"Okay, Lou. I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

Louis reads the text message as soon as the call disconnects. 

_Yeah. He’s straight though so it doesn’t matter._

Louis considers, then sends back, _You really just came out to me through a text message Harold ? I thought I at least rated Skype._

Harry’s reply this time comes much more quickly. _Do you want to Skype? I’m free now if you are._

_Sure_

Louis goes into his room to grab his laptop from his desk, then returns to the sofa. He opens his laptop and logs onto Skype. Harry isn’t on yet. Louis opens up the browser and goes to Twitter to kill time. The first thing he sees is a depressing status from Eleanor. Wincing, Louis opens up her profile so he can unfollow her. She has already unfollowed him, he notices. She certainly didn’t waste any time, not that he blames her. He’s just clicked the button when the Skype call sound goes off, and he clicks back over to the Skype window to accept Harry’s call.

"It’s not a big deal," Harry says right away, before they can so much as exchange pleasantries. "Like, I don’t really like to label myself, you know? So sure, I’ve had girlfriends and I’ve had boyfriends, but it’s--I don’t prefer one or the other. I just like people. I didn’t mean to, like, not tell you. I just don’t think about it much, I forget it’s something I have to ‘come out’ about--"

"You do talk some shit," Louis interrupts him. "I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever heard you talk."

"You aren’t homophobic or anything are you?"

"Harry, I’m a _drama student_. Not to buy in to stereotypes, but Jesus Christ. No, I just wasn’t sure if you were joking or not, so I didn’t really know what to say to you. I don’t care if you like boys or girls. But, so, this bloke? How do you know he’s straight?"

Harry shrugs. "Well, he’s had a girlfriend, so…"

"Yeah, but you just said _you’ve_ had girlfriends. Maybe he likes both, too."

Harry chuckles in a self-deprecating sort of way. "Maybe. You’re really okay, though? With Eleanor and everything?"

Louis shrugs. "I mean, yeah. I feel bad that I hurt her, but it’s definitely for the best. Zayn said a long time ago I wasn’t being fair to either of us, and he was right. I mean, it got to where I’d much rather talk to you than to her half the time. Do you know how many texts and Tweets I ignored from her because I was busy replying to yours?"

"Sorry," Harry says, and Louis shakes his head. 

"No, don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything. I can be kind of a dick sometimes."

Louis chats with Harry for close to an hour, before Harry apologetically says he has to have dinner with his Mum and ends the call. Louis feels a lot better than he did when he got home, though. His mood is improved with the arrival of Niall, who hands him a tub of ice cream.

"Zayn told me you and Eleanor broke up," Niall explains. "And I know we’re not girls, and also that you‘re not too heartbroken about it, but whatever, ice cream." 

"Ice cream," Louis agrees, as Niall goes to the drawer to bring them spoons.

"And we’re going out on Friday night," Niall adds, handing Louis his spoon. "All four of us. Five, I guess, I’m sure Perrie will come too."

Louis smiles. "Sounds great, Nialler."

-

Louis is having a great time. The music is loud, the lights are flashing, and he’s pleasantly buzzed from the drinks everyone had bought him, in honour of his first single night out. Or something. Whatever, there had been free drinks. 

And dancing! Louis loves dancing. He’s dancing with Perrie and Zayn right now, sandwiched between the two of them, their grinding made much less suggestive by the way they can’t stop laughing. 

"Having fun?" Zayn asks in his ear, hooking his chin over Louis' shoulder. 

"Yes!" Louis yells back, over the music. "So much fun."

"Good." Zayn leans further over his shoulder and kisses the side of Perrie’s head. She turns to face him, and Louis slips out from between them, still laughing, so as not to get caught in the middle of what’s looking to be a good snog. He looks around for one of his other friends, sees Liam dancing with a hot girl. Louis considers going over, but decides against it, only flashing Liam a thumbs up as he catches his eye. 

Louis turns the other way, looking around for Niall. He sees him at the bar, talking to a girl, and makes his way over there. "Hi," he says happily, plastering himself to Niall’s back. 

"Get off, Tommo," Niall replies good naturedly. "Hey, this is Barbara. I was just telling her how we’re taking you out to cheer you up."

Barbara nods. "You’re a good friend," she says to Niall. 

Niall grins. "Why don’t you and Louis go dance while I finish this," he holds up his nearly-empty bottle, "and then I’ll join you?"

Barbara takes Louis' hand and leads him to the floor. Louis glances back at Niall, a bit confused, and Niall winks at him. Louis rolls his eyes at Niall’s attempt at matchmaking, but he dances with Barbara for a while, until Niall joins them and Barbara makes such eyes at him that Louis starts to feel awkward and makes an excuse about needing the loo. Neither of them seem to mind, or even much notice, his leaving.

Louis figures he’ll go dance with Zayn and Perrie again, but when he looks around for them, he sees them heading towards the exit, laughing and glancing around like they’re trying not to get caught. Louis laughs too, softly, and decides, fuck it, he’ll dance alone. 

Louis is content to dance by himself, but he can’t say he minds much when strong hands grab his hips, and someone grinds up behind him. "You’re not dancing alone, are you?" someone says in his ear.

Louis grinds back, tilting his head to take in the brown hair and blue eyes of the guy behind him. "Not anymore."

Louis and his new dance partner move together for awhile longer, hips swivelling in sync, their dancing turning dirty. But when the guy says in his ear, "Wanna get out of here?" and moves his hand from Louis' waist to trail over the front of his jeans, Louis pulls away firmly, turning to face the guy. 

"I don’t much feel like putting on a show tonight, sorry," he says. 

"Cocktease," the guy snarls, shoving Louis backwards and striding away.

Louis frowns. He’s here to dance and have a good time with his friends, that’s all. But…he’s not sure where any of his friends even are, right now. And he’s not having a good time anymore. He spins in a circle, trying to catch a glimpse of one of them. He catches sight of Liam, completely wrapped up in the girl he’s dancing with, and heads over to him.

"Hey," he says, then when Liam doesn’t notice, says, " _Hey_ ," again, more loudly.

Liam looks over at him, finally. "Hey, Lou, what’s up?"

"I’m gonna head home, I think."

"You okay?"

Louis nods. "Yeah, some guy was a dick, but I’m okay. Tired, though. I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

Liam nods. "Yeah, ‘course. Good night."

"Night." Louis waves, and heads to the exit.

Louis has just gotten back to the flat and is in the process of getting undressed for bed, when his phone goes off with a text from Harry.

_can’t sleep. Skype?_

And even though it’s so late that it’s Saturday, and even though he’s still a little drunk and a lot sleepy, Louis sits down at his desk and opens his laptop.

"Were you asleep?" Harry asks, when he answers Louis' call, eyes dropping to Louis' bare chest.

Louis shakes his head. "No. Just got in, actually. The lads took me out to cheer me up about Eleanor, or something. I think they just wanted an excuse to go out, if I’m honest. But that’s okay, because I like dancing. And free drinks."

Harry giggles. "Just how many free drinks did you have?"

Louis considers. "Um. At least four, one from Liam, Zayn, Perrie, and Niall. But I think that was it? I’m just a little drunk."

"All right, Lou. Did you have fun at least?"

Louis nods. "Yeah, I did. Niall tried to set me up with some girl and ended up getting with her himself."

"Poor you," Harry says.

Louis shrugs. "Not really. I managed to find a hot brunette to dance with without his help. Of course, then he tried to get in my pants right there on the dance floor, so--"

"Wait, _Niall_ tried to get in your pants?" Harry squawks.

"Ew! Not Niall, the brunette bloke! So I told him I wasn’t into PDA with strangers and that’s about when I headed home."

Harry frowns. "You told him you weren’t into PDA? Not that you weren’t into men?"

"Well, I wasn’t too pleased with him groping me but I still wasn’t going to _lie_."

"Excuse me?"

Louis blinks. Harry sounds almost angry, but he doesn’t understand why. "Um, I said--"

Harry is glaring at him. "I know what you said. And you could have said something, maybe that day when you made a big deal about me not coming out to you! That’s pretty hypocritical, don’t you think?"

"I thought you knew!" Louis protests, relieved now that he knows why Harry is angry. "I’ve flirted with you before. And besides, I told you that day I was a stereotypical drama student."

"I don’t remember those words in that order with that meaning," Harry says, sounding only mildly exasperated now. "Thanks for putting me though so much emotional turmoil."

Louis snorts. "Emotional turmoil, what’s that supposed to mean?"

"I was having a crisis about you being straight!"

Louis feels like he’s missing something. "You were--what, why?"

Harry bites his lip, suddenly looking unsure of himself. "Well, I--remember when I said I was having boy trouble?"

"Yeah, so--oh. You meant…me?"

Harry nods slightly, chewing on his lower lip.

"Harry…" Louis sighs. "Online relationships just…I don’t think they work out."

"It could," Harry says stubbornly. "If we both wanted it enough."

Louis swallows. It sounds too loud in his own ears, and he wonders if Harry could hear it too, if his speakers picked it up. "Harry, to be honest, I’m shit at relationships. You saw what my last one was like. And Eleanor and I were sort of friends before that, and I haven’t seen her or spoken to her since we broke up, and I--that can’t happen with us, Harry."

"What do you mean?"

"If we tried to date, and it didn’t work out, well. I’d rather have you as a friend than not at all, you know? I never thought, when I got some mad tweet about a hair emergency, that I’d end up caring about you so much. But I did, and I do, and Harry--I won’t risk ruining us."

"Nothing would be ruined, even if we did break up," Harry says earnestly. "We would still be friends."

Louis shakes his head. "Harry, I can’t. I’m so sorry."

"Okay. Well. Okay. That’s--great, that’s fine."

"Harry--"

Harry clears his throat. "Um, listen, Lou, I’m--I think I can sleep now, so. Goodnight." He doesn’t even wait for a response before he disconnects the call, and Louis is left staring at his laptop with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Louis tries to go to sleep after that, but he lays awake for most of the night, tossing and turning. He’d had the best intentions, but the way Harry had left--he thinks he might have completely fucked up. Which is exactly what he was trying not to do. He finally falls asleep around dawn, and has bad dreams until he wakes up at noon. He can’t remember them, but the unsettled and unrested feeling he has when he wakes up is enough to let him know he had them.

Louis takes his phone from beside his bed and sends out a good morning text to Harry, hoping he’s wrong and that Harry will respond right away, maybe with some kind of smiling emoji. But five minutes go by, and no matter how hard Louis stares at his phone screen, nothing happens.

Wken he can bring himself to get out of bed, Louis stumbles out into the kitchen. "Morning," he mumbles to Zayn, who’s sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal. "Why are you awake before me?"

"I just got up, if it helps any," Zayn offers.

Louis shrugs. "Not really, but okay." He takes a bowl from the cupboard and helps himself to some of Zayn’s cereal too before sitting beside Zayn at the table. "How was the rest of your night? I think the last I saw of you, you and Perrie were leaving the club thinking you were all sneaky. Just so you know, we all saw you and knew you were coming back to ours to have sex."

"Louis!" Zayn splutters, choking on the bite of cereal he’d just taken and spraying milk back into the bowl.

"What, like it’s not true? Where’s Perrie this morning, anyway?"

Zayn manages to swallow his food the right way, then says, grudgingly, "She had to work first thing this morning. And our night was fine, thanks. Yours?"

"Niall tried to set me up but ended up going home with her. Some guy groped me and was a dick. Other than that, nothing much happened." Louis purposely doesn’t tell Zayn about what happened with Harry, or that Harry still hasn’t replied to his messages. If he doesn’t talk about it, maybe it’s not real.

-

Harry steadfastly ignores all of the texts that Louis sends him over the next two weeks, even the emoji-filled happy birthday he sends on February 1st. Louis tries replying to his Tweets, but Harry never replies back. It’s all just radio silence. And it’s strange, and Louis hates it. He tried acting like nothing was wrong, sending Harry random hellos and little comments on his day. He tried apologizing and asking Harry why he won’t talk to him. Nothing gets any response whatsoever.

The others notice that something is wrong, too. Louis thought he’d been acting like he always did, but he knows that he’s failed miserably when, one Wednesday, with the four of them sat on the sofa with pizza, instead of starting a film, Niall turns to him and says, "So, out with it."

"Out with what?" Louis asks, nonplussed. 

"Why have you been moping around here like your turtle died?" Liam asks.

Louis and Niall both give Liam strange looks, while Zayn looks fondly exasperated. "Like my _turtle died_?" Louis repeats.

Liam blushes. "You know what I mean."

"I--" And Louis intends to say he’s fine, but what he says instead is, "Harry hasn’t talked to me in two weeks. I fucked everything up."

The other three all exchange looks they think Louis doesn’t see. Then Niall asks, "What happened?"

Louis shrugs pseudo-casually. "Well, um, he told me that he liked me. And I told him we couldn’t be together."

Liam looks at him, eyes wide and mouth falling open. "You did what? But I thought you liked him! We all thought you liked him!"

"I do like him! That’s why I fucked up. Like. All my relationships go to shit, and online relationships always go to shit, and I didn’t want to lose Harry when we broke up. So I told him that I’d rather have him as a friend than as nothing. And then he got all weird he hasn’t responded to my messages since."

Zayn just stares at him. "Lou…you’re the one always talking about finding the person you ‘click’ with. Be honest here, did you and Harry not click right away?"

Louis nods slowly, miserably. "Yeah. We did."

"Then why would you--"

"I don’t know!" Louis explodes. "I was so afraid of losing Harry that I…lost Harry."

"Well, you’ll just have to get him back, won’t you?" Niall says practically.

Louis shakes his head. "He won’t listen to me."

"Make him listen," Niall says. 

"How am I supposed to do that?" Louis asks.

Niall pulls out his mobile and taps it a few times, then turns it so Louis can see it. Niall has brought up Harry’s latest tweet. 

**_@Harry_Styles:_** Guided campus visit tomorrow!

"So?" Louis says. "He’s going to visit a university. What does that have to do with anything?"

Niall rolls his eyes and takes his mobile back, fingers tapping furiously for a moment before he shows it to Louis again. This time, he’s on the school’s website, on a list of visit dates for prospective students. Tomorrow is one of the dates.

"No way," Zayn breathes, looking over Louis' shoulder. "Do you think?"

Niall shrugs. "Worth a shot, isn’t it?"

"But--I’m sure lots of universities are having visit days tomorrow. Besides, I never told Harry what uni I go to."

"Well, if he knew you went to this one, and he was going to visit this one, he wouldn’t have Tweeted about it, would he?" Liam says. "If he’s really angry with you, he wouldn’t want you to know where he’s going to be."

Louis frowns. "I guess not."

"So all you have to do is be at the Visitor’s Centre tomorrow when this tour is supposed to start, and you’ll find your boy," Niall says.

Zayn turns to Niall. "How did you even figure this out?"

Niall shrugs. "I’ve been following Harry on Twitter for awhile. When I saw that last tweet, I thought it’d be funny if he was coming here, so I checked to see if it was a possibility."

"Stalker," Liam says, poking Niall in the stomach. 

"Oh god, I can’t just wait outside the Visitor’s Centre tomorrow, if Harry does show up, he’s going to think I’m a crazy stalker," Louis says. "And he’d be right, oh my god."

Niall shakes his head quickly. "No, it’s not crazy. It’s _romantic_ ," he insists.

Zayn shrugs. "It’s a little crazy."

Liam elbows him. "Zayn!" he hisses. 

"Well, it is! But, er, also romantic?" Zayn adds quickly, under Liam and Niall’s glares. 

Louis sighs. "I guess I’m crazy, then."

"Does that mean you’ll do it?" Niall asks.

Louis nods, then braces himself as Niall whoops and jumps on him, Liam and Zayn following.

-

Louis feels completely psychotic, skulking around outside the Visitor's Centre. He's already drawn quite a few concerned looks from parents, who usher their children into the building like they'll become delinquents if they're in Louis' presence for too long. That's an entirely unfair conclusion, too. Louis isn't a delinquent. He's not even skipping a class right now. Okay, so he skipped a class that would have ended ten minutes ago, but the point is, right this second, he is not skipping a class.

There's only five minutes until the tour is supposed to start, and so far there's been no sign of Harry. Maybe Niall was wrong. Life isn't like a romantic movie, life isn't full of serendipitous coincidences. Life just sucks, and nothing works out as you plan.

Louis is about to give up, go home, and cuddle with the boys (or possibly a bottle of vodka) when a boy rushes past him, calling over his shoulder, "Hurry, we should just make it!"

"Okay, Will," the other boy to whom he was speaking replies in the low, slow voice that Louis has come to know exceedingly well.

"Harry," Louis says, as though reflexively, spinning around to face him. And Louis suddenly realizes that he hasn't planned for this. He doesn't have a grand romantic speech all thought out, he doesn't even have the slightest idea of what to say. He's here, and Harry's here, and he hasn't thought beyond this moment.

" _Louis_?" Harry says, incredulity colouring his tone. 

"Louis?" the boy called Will asks. "Not the one who--"

"Yes, Will, that Louis," Harry says. "Um. I'll catch up with you, yeah? I'm sure Louis can give me a tour of the campus if I miss the official one."

Will looks as though he doesn't think much of that plan. "Harry--"

"It'll be fine," Harry says. "Trust me."

Will eyes Louis suspiciously. "If Harry doesn't come back, I know who you are."

"Understood," Louis says, giving Will a nod. Still looking as though he’s going against his better judgment, Will walks inside the building. Louis gestures to a bench nearby, and Harry follows him over. 

"So, uh, how’d you know I was going to be here?"

"Niall, actually," Louis says. "He saw your Tweet, checked the school website and made a guess."

"Oh." Harry’s quiet for a moment, then he continues, "I didn’t know you went here. For some reason, I thought you went to uni in London."

Louis shakes his head. "Nah, ‘s a bit far from home." He and Harry both fall silent as a kid rolls past on a skateboard, and they both turn their heads to watch him.

"You’ve been ignoring me," Louis says quietly.

Harry sighs. "I know. I’m sorry. I…I guess I was hurt, and embarrassed. I thought maybe you--" He breaks off and shrugs.

"I’m so sorry," Louis says. "I didn’t mean to…Harry, I like you. A lot. I told you, I cared too much about us to risk--"

"That’s bullshit, Lou. You’re scared." Louis nods, slowly, and doesn’t deny it. "Wouldn’t it be worse to always be left wondering what we could have been together?"

Louis shrugs helplessly. "I don’t know, Haz. Maybe. I just--I’m scared. There’s so much stacked against us. I mean, who even knows when we’ll see each other in person again?"

"I live in Holmes Chapel, in Cheshire," Harry says. "It’s about half an hour from here. And, who knows, if I get accepted here, maybe I’ll be living here too in six months. We could make it work, Louis. We really could."

Louis nods. "I--that’s what I came here like a psycho stalker to tell you. You know how I was always talking about not clicking with Eleanor? Well. I felt it right away with you. I tried to ignore it--for a lot of reasons. And I’m still scared but--you make me happy. And you make me want to be brave. And you make me strong enough to want to try."

"Then be with me, happily."

"Okay," Louis says softly.

"Okay?" Harry repeats.

Louis nods again. And then he leans forward and kisses Harry, right there on the bench outside the Visitor’s Centre.

"Thought you weren’t into PDA," Harry whispers against his mouth.

"I’m not into PDA with strangers," Louis corrects. "And you’re not a stranger, are you?" 

He doesn’t give Harry a chance to respond, just kisses him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for sticking with me this far. You can find me on [tumblr](amberdowny.tumblr.com) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/amberdowny) if you like, but I don't say much. ♥


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